Running to the Enemy's Arms
by deadlydaisy8o8
Summary: He can't trust his friends, His parents are officially ghost Nazi's, and his life has pretty much fallen to pieces within the last twelve hours. However there is one person who might be able to pick up the pieces, if Danny would only let him. T4sfty
1. Chapter 1: Unexpected Places

AN/: Okay people I am a major fan of anything revolving around a Vlad and Danny Father-Son relationships. I have spent months on end reading truly astounding pieces such as Checkmate by _Pearl84_, and A Vent Comes to Haunt by _Miriam1. _(You may notice that I underlined the titles as is required to do for Novels, if you have read either or both of these stories you will know that they have rightfully earned their underlined status.) For some time now I have wanted to write my own VD-FS story. I can't help but be intrigued by the pair. So here is my attempt at the duo, though I am positive it will seem pitiful next to great authors like Pearl and Miriam. I am unsure as to how frequent my updates for this will be, those of you who are reading "Welcome to the Last Resort" will surely be frustrated with me for posting this story with out a respective update for the other, but I must say I am being hit with a rather large wall of writers block. Bare with me on this one guys. Okay then I guess that's really all I have to say.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 1: Unexpected Places

By: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday May, 31, 2010, 6:29pm_

_Revised: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:11 PM_

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**IMPORTANT:**I, in no way, support the pairing you are about to read. I'm using it as a plot device, and I will not be dwelling on the pair. I only intend to touch on it for this first chapter, and if you find yourself so sickened with this pairing, go ahead and scroll to the bottom where I will write a brief summary of what happens in this chapter so you are not forced to read it. Though really, I know there is no possible way for the two to end up together, and I really don't even like the pair, I really just couldn't think of any alternatives. Yes I am purposefully not telling you what the pairing is so you will have to at least give it a try. Though please do not be put off by this first chapter as this is going to be a Vlad- Danny centered fic. I highly encourage you to skip to the next chapter if you really hate this one. Thank you for your time.

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**Tucker's POV:**

Danny had had his ghost powers for two years now. He had gotten a lot more versed in the use of his powers over those two years. He could make ten of himself now, and he was working on teleporting. The guy never caught a break anymore either. It seemed like he was always fighting ghosts. Though, he never let me or Sam help him when he could prevent it. The fact annoyed us to no end. No matter how many times we tell him that we're there for him, no matter what dangers there are, he just won't ask for help. It's worse because we know he needs it. The way those black lines are practically tattooed under his eyes; me and Sam are both sure he's losing enough sleep that it's unhealthy.

He acts like he was in a war zone all the time. It's never safe to try to sneak up on him either, because if you do the results are not pretty. Dash found that out the hard way when he tried to sneak up on Danny and give him a surprise beating. As soon as Dash's hand had so much as brushed Danny's shoulder, Danny whipped around and punched him in the face. That one punch, unfortunately for Dash, had him out cold. Though I personally thought Dash deserved it, Danny was a mess because he had hurt an 'innocent person'. Yeah right, Dash is the farthest thing from innocent in this school.

After that whole mishap, Dash had decided he needed to 'teach Fenton a lesson' so he could mend the damage Danny had done to his reputation. Danny of course let Dash beat him up. He claimed it wasn't a big deal, that Dash wasn't really hurting him anyway, but I still think Danny could've stood up for himself. There is no doubt Danny would win in a fight. Danny had some serious guns. All of that ghost hunting slash superhero-ing had done a number on his physical fitness. It finally got to the point where Danny couldn't hide it anymore about a year ago. Everyone had been shocked of course, that Danny had put on some muscle, but that gossip was gone within a couple of days. Danny was finally rip enough that Dash wasn't picking on him anymore. Not me unfortunately, but I was happy Danny was catching a break.

The girls at school had noticed how Danny had grown more toned and defined too. Of course this only made Sam jealous because Danny picked up on every little flirt that was sent his way, but he refused to see the hints Sam was dropping like bombs every three seconds. Sam got so frustrated. Eventually she couldn't keep it all to herself anymore, and she had taken to coming and complaining to me about Danny's cluelessness.

It was almost painful to watch Sam go after Danny with the determination she did. If Sam ever stayed home sick she would end up calling me by the end of the day; usually to see if there was a good reason Danny hadn't called her yet to see if she was alright. On the rare occasion the three of us got the time to go to a concert or something like that without being interrupted by ghosts; Sam would have me over about a half an hour before Danny so that I could make sure her outfit looked okay. When Sam was really feeling down, sometimes she would come over and play Doomed. I constantly reminded her that Danny liked her back and that he just wasn't brave enough to ask her on a date. She took little comfort in the reminder anymore. If actions speak louder than words, then no matter how many times I tell Sam Danny likes her, his refusal to do anything about it is going to keep shouting at her that he doesn't. In the mean time I try the best I can to keep my friends spirits up, and to go along with whatever they want me to do.

Not that I mind Sam coming to me for that kind of stuff. Sam really is a very pretty girl. It's hard to hang out with someone as pretty as her for as long as I have and not notice the fact. I try to stay out of her way though; she only has eyes for Danny. What kind of friend would I be anyway if I tried to get a girl I knew Danny liked? That's totally disregarding the fact that if I did ever get together with Sam I don't think our friendship would survive the ordeal. Hey though, you can't stop a guy from dreaming. Sam was gorgeous, even if Danny didn't want to admit it to her face.

I try my best to be there for her when she needs someone to vent to. I know she likes to tease me about some of the stupider things I do. If I really work at it I can get her to forget about whatever stupid thing Danny had done, and laugh a little. I try to go out of my way to be extra stupid when she's around; I love seeing that smile on her face. Really, I kind of wish Sam and Danny would get together just so Sam wouldn't be so unhappy all the time. It's one thing to dress in all black; it's another to have an attitude to match. It takes a lot to bring Sam down; she's got a strong personality. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to get it. Except when it comes to Danny, apparently.

I closed my locker door to find Sam waiting for me with red cheeks on the other side. Time to see what Danny had done this time.

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**Sam's POV:**

Tucker was so awesome. As soon as he saw I was upset I could tell all of his attention was directed at me. The way he held himself told me that he was going to be there for me when I needed it. Honestly without Tucker I'd probably go insane. I found myself wishing for the millionth time that Danny could go two seconds without worrying about what was lurking around the next corner and pay attention to me like Tucker was. Danny wouldn't even have to worry so much about being attacked if he would just let us help him in the first place. He frustrates me so much sometimes.

"Hey Sam, what's buggin' ya?" See, Tucker wasn't clueless like Danny. If I ever got near Danny when I was the tinniest bit upset, he'd get all over protective and try to fix whatever was giving me a hard time. Like I was incapable of solving my own problems, and just another person who needed saving. That's the hero side in him for you. Flash the distress signal and your hero in black shall arrive shortly. I wish Danny would realize that not everyone needed saving all the time, especially me.

Me and Tucker were used to all that now though, and we put up with it most of the time. Danny didn't realize it, but we ended up hanging out a lot by ourselves because of Danny's 'extracurricular activities'. Inevitably the subject of Danny's tendency to be the hero all the time had come up in conversation. Tucker hadn't told Danny that I liked him, so I knew I could talk to him about that stuff.

Despite Tucker's own inability to get a girl he was pretty good with all of this relationship stuff. Most people think that being a girl gives you some deeper knowledge of how all of this whole 'love' stuff is supposed to go. Well I'm here to tell you that if girls do have a higher sense about all this stuff then I missed out on receiving that chromosome. Without Tucker, I'd still be trying to figure out how to get all of the girls to back off Danny now that he's got some tone. It still blew my mind at how blatantly oblivious Danny could be about what was going on around him, mainly the fact that I liked him. I sighed and told Tucker what was on my mind.

"Danny would probably believe that the moon was made of cheese if we said so. Seriously is there anything going on in that head of his!" I threw my arms up in frustration. Tucker only nodded understandingly, as we walked down the hall.

"Danny again huh?" I clenched my fists in frustration.

"Yes." I let my answer hiss through my lips. Tucker looked at me sympathetically at sensing my distress. Why can't Danny do stuff like that? Why did he have to be so blind?

"Wanna tell me about it before we get to class and you unintentionally blow up on a teacher?" There was another thing about Tucker, he always asked me to talk because he knew I just needed to vent. He didn't try to solve my problems for me like Danny did. Danny had a seriously bad habit of being like his sister when it came to trying to make someone feel better. No matter how many times I tell him I can take care of myself, there he is trying to do everything for me.

"He's just so clueless. Everyone in this school knows that I like him, except him! How does that work exactly? I mean, c'mon, how can someone be that oblivious to their surroundings? Really, because if someone had the answer for me, I would give them a hundred dollars right now!" Tucker paid attention to what I was saying with an understanding nod. For some reason I always felt like he knew exactly what I was talking about. Though he never claimed that he knew that he understood every little emotion I was feeling, like he was some counselor. He always was careful just to listen and try not to act like he could fix everything; like not all of my problems had answers that I just wasn't smart enough to figure out. A pit of sadness seemed to settle in my stomach as I realized I would probably never be able to relate to Danny like this. I opened my mouth again and got more of my frustration off of my chest.

"I mean really Tucker you've seen him. You know how stupid he can be. He's worse than his Dad sometimes. It seems like he's got it all plotted out in his head and he can't see it any other way. I know I'm not the prettiest girl in school, but I'm not ugly. I mean, what? Am I going to have to come to school in some frilly pink dress to get him to notice me?" It seemed like every day Danny saw things the same way. What did I have to do to get him to see me in a different light? I was very proud of whom I was and I usually wouldn't change who I was to win someone's acceptance. The rest of the student population was well aware of the fact, but when your own friends don't see things put directly in front of their faces, what else are you supposed to do? I mindlessly followed the path I took every day to get to Lancer's class, unaware of the tears threatening to fall from my eyes. Tucker suddenly stopped, taking me by surprise, and adopted a stern voice.

"Sam, you should never change who you are for someone else. Not even for Danny. I thought you of all people would remember that." I looked into Tuckers concerned eyes. He understood what I was thinking, he had accepted me for who I was, and he listened to me whenever I needed him. Why wasn't Danny like that? I mean really was I that unimportant to him? Did he just not care?

I felt a hot tear streak down my cheek. I reached up to touch the wet trail. Cracks were starting to form in the dam that had been holding back all my uncertainty. Wave after wave of sadness came down on me threatening to overflow my carefully built walls. I felt a secure hand on my shoulder as a small sob racked my body. I looked around to realize people were staring.

I never cried, and I don't know why I was now. I had broken my leg when I fell off the monkey bars in third grade and even then I hadn't shed a single tear. I suddenly felt very self-conscious as my strength started to ebb away and my raw depression was laid out on the line for everyone to see. Tucker applied a little pressure to my shoulder and took my books from my hands.

"Come on Sam." Tucker gently guided me into a janitor's closet, away from gawking eyes and shut the door. I let a louder shudder of breath escape my lungs when the door clicked shut. I tried to stay quite as people hurried by outside the door. The minute bell rang and I realized I probably wouldn't be making it to class on time. This small little revelation was the single drop that caused several years worth of doubt, sadness, and anger to spill over. I exhaled heavily and let tears streak down my face. I turned towards the back of the closet, ashamed, trying to hide myself further from the last few stragglers outside the door. Why did this have to be so complicated? I was practically throwing myself at Danny and he still couldn't see me as anything more than a friend!

I tried to control the ragged sobs that were escaping me. I quickly searched for the closest thing that would muffle my cries. My arms latched around Tucker's middle, and I buried my face in his chest. He stiffened for a moment before tenderly wrapping his arms around me. He rubbed my back in soothing circles; making soft shushing noises in my ear.

"It's gonna be okay Sam. It's gonna be alright." I had imagined this scene in my head so many times. Only instead of Tucker, Danny would've been standing here holding me when I needed to be held. Tucker had been there for me so many times when Danny hadn't, and now here he was, comforting me when I was the most vulnerable looking he had ever seen me; a pathetic mess in his arms like some helpless little princess. I rearranged my face on Tucker's chest so I could breathe and continued to sob. Tucker tenderly stroked the back of my head trying to calm me down. I felt his chest move upwards as he took a breath in preparation to speak.

"Sam you are beautiful, smart, independent, outgoing, and an amazing girl. If Danny can't see that, well then he's a bigger dope than we thought." His words seemed to warm a certain place in my heart. I'd never heard him talk like that. I pulled away from his shoulder. Briefly, I registered the smudges of black that had been left on his canary yellow shirt from my thick running eyeliner.

Unsure if he had even meant the words he said I looked up into his eyes, and for a moment we were looking into each other's souls. What I saw was a warm caring person who understood that I wasn't a damsel in distress, even now when I was crying in his arms; that I was a person who wanted to be treated with a little dignity and respect. Right then I realized that maybe Danny would never love me back. Danny would never understand that I didn't always need saving, that I wasn't a damsel in distress, and that I didn't want to be. I realized that maybe I had been looking for love in the wrong place. Maybe all I needed to do was look at what was already in front of me.

It was like we knew the others actions as we were doing them. We both leaned in at the exact same moment, our lips meeting in the center. There was a moment when we were the only two people in the entire world. He tenderly held the back of my head in his hand, and for a moment all of my troubles went away. I was in a place where none of my problems could reach me; I was accepted in Tucker's firm hold.

Then the light from the hallway brightened from behind my eyelids, as the door to the janitor's closet swung urgently open accompanied by a surprised, pained gasp.

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**Brief Summary: **Danny, Sam and Tucker are all in their Junior year. Danny has still not made a move on Sam, and Sam has still not said anything to Danny. Sam eventually got frustrated with Danny's cluelessness and took to complaining to Tucker about it on a regular basis. For some reason Sam was overwhelmed with her confusion and frustration and starts crying in the hallway. Tucker leads her to a Janitors closet to escape prying eyes. There with Tucker comforting her, Sam has a couple of revelations that lead to them kissing. Only to be interrupted as someone opens the door.

There you have it! I said it! Don't pelt me with decaying vegtables. Before you decide to hate the fic, please give the next chapter a try! PLEASE!


	2. Chapter 2: Head in the Clouds

AN/: THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO READ! no really though thanks because if I had seen this fic, I probably wouldn't have continued to read it because of that first chapter. It warms my heart when you guys give my stories a look. Oh and here's a question for someone with nothing better to do. What is the difference between a hit and a visit? I can't figure it out. Anyway thanks for reading guys really. I like this chapter way better than the first one and i like the next one even more. So have faith it does get better. Or at least I think it does.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 2: Head in the Clouds

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday May, 31, 2010, 7:26PM_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:12PM_

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**Danny's POV**

My Ghost sense had gone off again; it was already the fourth time today. I groaned and changed direction so that I was headed towards the nearest hiding spot: a janitor's closet down the hall. The hallways were virtually empty, the bell having rung mere moments before. I ran a little faster than was normal for a human being towards my intended location.

I knew where every single hiding place was in this stupid school. Needing a place to hide on a regular basis can do that to a person. I didn't_ just_ need to hide form Dash and his cronies either; though I have no doubt that the other geeks he pounded on had a good idea of all the best hiding spots. I needed a place to hide way more often than that.

I had figured it out once a year or two ago, and I average about five ghosts a day. That was a year ago though so I'm pretty sure that number has increased. It didn't help either, that all the weak ghosts had decided I was too powerful and didn't bother me anymore. You'd think I would've appreciated their absence, but it turns out that when the weak ghosts decide that they can't handle something, the bigger, meaner ghosts take it as their cue to move in. It was a relatively good thing that all ghosts tended to act the same, so their movements tended to be fairly predictable.

My shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor as I slid to a halt in front of the door I had been looking for. I flung the door open, and my mind lost all of its higher function. I didn't just find some dry old mops like I had expected.

I had found Sam,

and Tucker

kissing.

Rather heatedly.

I stood for a moment in pure shock. My heart was pounding in my ears; the ghost I was about to go fight long forgotten. Basically everything in my head was forgotten. I didn't really even remember how to breathe. My skin got cold and clammy and I got goose bumps on my arms as what was before me started to set in.

It was a second or two before they realized they weren't alone anymore. Sam pulled away and blinked a couple of times at the light. Her eyes searched for the cause and seemed to focus on me in the doorway. Lines of black were streaked down her cheeks. She had obviously been crying, and into Tucker's arms, based on the large amount of mascara that Tucker now sported on his shirt. As if confused and scared Sam opened her mouth to whisper.

"D-Danny?" I did the only thing my brain could manage to figure out how to do.

I ran.

My feet smacked the cheap linoleum, as I accelerated down the hallway at supernatural speeds. Maybe, if I got far enough ahead, the pain that was tearing through my heart wouldn't be able to catch up with me. Though I was bolting as fast as my legs could carry me I felt like I was still only barely moving. Desperate to get away from the hot rusty pain clawing through my chest I transformed into my ghost half; letting the cool blue rings slide over my form. As I reached the end of the hallway I got into the air and phased through the wall at my new top speed of three hundred and seventeen miles per hour. I pulled up and away from the ground; trying to get away from the sensation of my heart bursting into flame. Though as fast as I went the sensation only went faster.

The wind howled by my ears seeming to give a voice to my screaming heart. My house was coming up on me fast, as I had subconsciously directed myself that way. There was no way I could stop and let the pain come down on me full force, so I circled the city bolting over the streets at top speed. I knew I was going faster than three hundred and seven teen miles per hour. I might have been excited if not for the ache that nipped at my heart no matter how fast I went.

I was starting to feel my energy ebb as I circled the city for the ninth time. I came around to my house; slowly decelerating as I approached my room. I could feel the weight of all my sadness and confusion catch up with me. I was so upset I was starting to lose control over my powers. I could feel my eyes glowing with hot intensity, as the tears that dripped from my face became frozen drops of water before they hit the ground. Small 'clinks' every few seconds were the only thing that broke the silence of my room as I hovered there in the middle of it.

I transformed back to my human half and let myself fall about three feet onto my baby blue comforter. I felt like I had gained a hundred pounds with the thoughts that weighted down my head. How could they do that? How long had they been together? How much else have they done behind my back?

The image of my two best friends in the Janitors closet haunted my thoughts. It seemed like it would be forever scorched onto the front of my mind's eye. How could they do this to me? Tucker knew I had a crush on Sam. He blatantly made fun of me because of it. Why would he do something like that? Why would he betray me? I had put all of my trust and loyalty in him only to have him rip it out from underneath me, like I was nothing but a mangy dog that had the rug pulled out from underneath it.

And then there was Sam.

My Sam.

Didn't she know how much I cared about her? Couldn't she tell that I had liked her as more than just a friend? I thought that maybe the way I always cared for her; the way I always protected her, would have showed her that. That maybe the way I was always worried about her well being would have told her that I liked her as more than just my best friend from kindergarten. I loved her, and she didn't love me back. That thought sent hot salty tears pouring out of my eyes, blazing green with sadness. What else had they done to me behind my back?

The hot knife in my heart suddenly twisted as I realized I no longer trusted my only real friends. I had told them everything. I thought that they had told me everything in return. Apparently I was wrong. Apparently I wasn't worth the truth. They didn't care about me, some weird, creepy little kid with creepy little powers.

My mind settled into a numbing hum. I stared at the wall opposite my bed for I don't know how long. Five minutes or three hours I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I desperately clung onto the numbness that had taken over my thoughts, preferring it over the depression that wracked my head when my mind wandered elsewhere. I wasn't aware of time passing or my surroundings. I do know that it was too soon that I was mercilessly ripped from my ignorant sate by a gentle knock and a caring voice.

"Danny?" That had been the last thing Sam had said to me. My Sam, my beautiful, beautiful Sam. The voice came again.

"Danny are you okay?" Jazz ventured cautiously. I heard her jiggle the doorknob slightly as she attempted to come into my room and force me to be at the receiving end of her little therapy sessions.

"Danny, talk to me." Jazz seemed worried, there was pleading in her tone. I glared at the door as I heard the doorknob shake a little more intensely. Wasn't it obvious that I wanted to be left alone?

"Go away Jazz." My voice cracked and came out in a croak. The jiggling at the door stopped and there was a pause.

"Danny you need to talk to someone." Her tone was caring, though a little accusing. She waited outside the door for a response I wasn't planning on giving. There was a minute or so of silence on the other side of the door. I thought maybe she'd decided for once to let me be. No such luck.

I heard the tell tale clicking of one of Jazz's bobby pins as she picked the lock on my door. I renewed my glare, and aimed a small intense ecto-blast at the doorknob, melting the lock shut. I thought I heard a small hiss of pain from the other side of the door. I thought briefly that Jazz might have gotten burned but she made sure the thought was quickly erased from my head.

"Danny please." Jazz made no attempt to hide the desperation in her voice. I didn't respond; trying to return to the numbness that had occupied my head before Jazz had shaken me from it.

"Danny." Jazz's voice was scared, but I didn't register the fact. All that I could think about was how my friends had betrayed me. How my only real two friends had turned their backs on me. How they had ripped out my heart and then run it over with a two-ton semi truck. I sat hugging my knees for another span of time before there was a new voice outside my door.

"Sweetie are you alright?" I remained silent. I didn't have the energy to talk. I didn't have the desire to say what was really on my mind. What would they understand anyway? What could they possibly say to make what I had seen alright? I didn't want to verbally acknowledge what had happened anyway. If I did, then I would never be able to go back. If I said it for others to hear, it would mean that I had accepted the truth; that my friends really had betrayed me in the worst way that they could.

"Danny? Talk to me." I could tell mom was worried. I had no doubt that Jazz was standing outside my door as well with a worried expression on her face. Desperate to be left alone, to wallow in peace, I broke my silence.

"I'm okay mom." My voice once again betrayed my emotion as it cracked like a fallen vase. I heard a sigh come from the other side of the door but besides that there was no response. There was a moment before I could hear two pairs of footsteps walk away. I knew they'd be back though. I was the most stubborn in my family, but we all had hard heads. There was no way they were giving up that easily. I was still grateful, though, for the temporary solitude.

Suddenly a shiver ran up my spine as a small puff of fog escaped my mouth. Not a moment afterward Skulker came flying through the wall that led to the outside. I felt invaded and smothered by the presence of the specter. I was annoyed and angry that nobody would leave me alone. Hate for the hunter, like I had never felt before, bubbled to the surface. I scowled in his direction.

"Go away Skulker!" Skulker only smiled at me tauntingly, making my anger bubble more violently beneath the surface.

"Well now it seems someone had their heart broken this morning. I'm only here to catch my prey in its moment of weakness. I will have your pelt whelp!" As was routine for Skulker, giant rocket launchers popped out of his shoulders and there was a whine as they powered up to fire.

I leapt off of my bed and transformed into Phantom with a yell of frustration. There was a loud BOOM as my bed was blown up by Skulker's missile. The wood of my bed frame sizzled under the hot ectoplasm, wispy smoke lifted off of my comforter. My fists unintentionally lit with ecto energy as I clenched them at my sides. My eyes burned a lime green. I whipped around to look at Skulker, who was rather happy to have made me so upset. I roared as I launched myself at him.

"Why won't anyone just leave me alone!" I brought both fists down on the top one of his shoulders popping the arm out of its socket. Skulker looked surprised for a moment before he aimed one of his other missiles at my head. I growled under my breath.

"Oh no you don't." I blasted the launcher that was preparing to fire off the top of his shoulder before doing the other. The pieces of metal clanked to the floor. Skulker was indignant.

"Hey whelp, those were ne-" I cut Skulker off as I plowed him into the wall. I allowed him to slump down to the floor before I got on top of him. Football size dents appeared in his armor as I rained ecto-charged punches down on the pathetic hunter. My fist finally made it through the metal with a shriek of resistance. I yelled again in frustration as I withdrew my fist.

"You just don't know when you've lost do you? You really think that after two years; after all of the times I've beaten you, you can still catch me? Well here, see if you can catch this! " I went for his head and twisted it off. The little green blob on the inside scrambled out of the helmet before I could grab it. He tried diving through the floor only to land painfully on his head. He looked around franticly before he asked in a squeaky voice.

"H-hey what gives?" I laughed mirthlessly at his panic.

"Isn't it great? It's a new invention. My parents decided to line the walls, floors, and ceilings with ectoplasm so that Ghosts can't go through them. They said it will help keep the ghosts out," I smiled evilly at the confused blob on the floor, "or in your case help keep the ghosts in." I used both hands and powered up an ecto-blast. I was silent as I fired at Skulker who had resorted to being chased around the room. Skulker to his own credit was able to get out of the way in time, his little form zipping through the air. A giant scorch mark was left on the floor where the hunter had once been. I quickly found him again over in a corner and continued to trail him with ecto-blasts. The explosion of my things when I missed, of minor consequence in my mind. Why should I even care anymore? I missed once again as he zipped to the opposite corner of the room. I smiled maliciously as I had a thought.

"You know Skulker we should do this more often. You'd be great for target practice." I concentrated and aimed an ecto-blast at the little blob. Skulker's shrill shriek was cut short as the blast hit him. His small form making a soft thump as it hit the ground, like a dead rat. I walked over to the burned terrified little blob on the floor, and powered up an ecto-blast in my hand, my back turned to the door.

"FREZZE SPOOK!" I let the energy dissipate in my hand as I turned to face the speaker. I watched as my mother became hysterical upon seeing the destroyed room. Her gun shook in her hand, while Dad's was steady as a rock. He looked at me with nothing but hate and loathing. Mom stuttered a little before she demanded.

"W-where is my baby!" the previously somewhat evil look in my eye disappeared at my mom's shear panic. My face dropped and became blank as I took in my parents in the doorway, both ready to shoot until I was nothing but a pile of green goop. My voice was barely a whisper.

"I don't know."

"LIAR!" My Dad screamed as he reaffirmed his hold on his ecto-gun, "My wife asked you a question spook, and you'll give her an answer!" I took a step back instinctively, putting my parents more on edge. My Dad took a step into the room, my mom slightly behind his large form as she searched for where her son could possibly be. Upon finding nothing but busted up furniture she turned back to me shakily.

"P-please where is my Danny." I backed up a little more, shocked by the pure desperation in her voice. My Dad matched me step for step until I hit the wall. I didn't dare take my eyes off of my approaching Dad. I had never seen anyone look so angry in their entire lives. He continued to walk towards me until I could hear his slightly labored breath.

"Well?" he all but demanded an answer. He pointed the gun directly at my chest. My breath hitched and I started to hyperventilate.

"P-please you don't want to –"

"Wrong answer." My dad's voice deadpanned and he powered up the ecto-gun. I screamed in fear and pulled out my last resort.

"WAIT!" I reached as quickly as I could for the little warmth of humanity within my ghost half. The primed ecto gun whined ready to fire as the light blue rings traveled up and down my body. The transformation completed and I pleaded.

"He's right here, don't shoot, please. I'm right, here." My dad froze and the ecto gun powered down. Cotton seemed to have been stuffed in our ears the silence was so intense. My mom finally broke it with a racked sob.

"What have you done to my baby?" I recoiled in confusion and stuttered a response.

"W-what?" Dad still stood dumbstruck unmoving. Mom buried her face in her hands as she cried.

"W-where is my baby!" confusion filled my face and I tried to take a step towards my mom.

"Mom I'm right-"

"Don't move!" My motion seemed to have snapped dad out of his reserve, "That women is not your mother, don't ever call her that! Now tell us what you've done with the real Danny!" My Dad backed me up against the wall once again, threatening me at gun point the entire way. Disbelief filled my face. I opened and closed my mouth. They didn't believe it was me? I jumped as an ecto blast hit the wall beside my head.

"ANSWER ME SPOOK! Or I promise the next one won't miss." Panic set in as I realized my parents were going to attempt to kill me for impersonating myself. My breathing hitched as I listened to the whine of the ecto gun power up again.

"Danny, phase through the wall, I turned off the shield! Run and I'll find you!" The muffled shouts from my sister coming up the stairs accented with thunderous steps caused both of my parents to turn around and look for their daughter. Seeing they were distracted I didn't hesitate to do exactly what Jazz had said. I phased into the next room transformed and shot through the roof. I heard the animalistic yells coming from my dad as he fired wildly at me through the window.

I didn't look back as I quickly flew out of range. I only slowed down when I was above the clouds and I didn't recognize what was below me. I stopped and tried to process what had just happened.

"They didn't believe me." I looked at my hands, examining the white gloves. Was I that hard to believe? Sam and Tucker said that I looked a lot like my human half; that it was a miracle they hadn't figured it out.

My stomach dropped out. Tucker and Sam; were they even telling me the truth? Did they just tell me that to make me feel better, so I wouldn't worry so much? How much of what they said to me was true and how much of it was them taking pity on some half ghost creep? I stared down at the cloud rolling beneath me.

What did I do now? Who could I go to? Where could I go? I was in danger at my own home and my friends had betrayed me. There was no way I could go back there, I'd be blown to bits or treated like some injured little puppy who needed people's pity. Nobody really wanted a freak like me in their lives. I was an anomaly, I was impossible, I was something to be sad for and take pity on. I didn't have any place to go. I was alone in the world and no one would ever want me.

I was knocked out of my revere as a plane off in the distance popped above the clouds. The distant roar of the engines, slightly delayed in making it to my ears. The cloud seemed to want to hold onto the plane as it flew on. It was a commercial jet, not carrying any passengers. The top half of it was painted a mauve sort of red, the bottom half was painted a dull sort of grey, and clearly visible on the side were four big black letters out-lined in white. DALV.

I instinctually growled at the plane in the distance. That man was seriously screwed up. It didn't matter if he'd given up his schemes for the past year now and he had moved back to Wisconsin, there were things he had done that I wouldn't forgive so easily. He was a lonely old man who needed a cat. He doesn't want me for me; he just wants me because I'm half ghost.

The only other Half-Ghost in existence and he has to have twisted morals and a screwed up agenda. The only other person who could ever really understand what I'm going through, who could really ever help me; just had to want revenge on my family.

He had no idea how badly I wanted him to teach me what he knew. Some days I almost caved and went to him, just so I could feel like I wasn't alone. I held out though. I told myself if Vlad could figure out his powers on his own than so could I. He'd proved repeatedly in our battles that you didn't need someone else's help to control your powers. He hadn't had anyone to help him and he always beat me. His taunts came to the front of my head, he had no idea how many times I'd wanted to say that he was right; how many times I wanted to cave and run for his help.

"_Come live with me Daniel, all you have to do is renounce your father, and you could live like a king. Think of what I can offer you, I can teach you all about your powers; I can offer you any material possession you desire. I can be a far better father than the one you already have. I'm certainly more qualified, and I can understand you in a way no one else ever will._

_You think your parents are going to accept that you're a half ghost Daniel? Are you so sure that they would drop everything and love you even if you become the very thing they despise? I pity you Daniel, for one day you will realize that your parents are people just like you. That they have flaws and will not always act the way they should because of this. I have known them far longer than you Daniel, and I know that their hatred of ghosts runs far deeper than is healthy._

_When that day comes Daniel I want you to remember this. That I have been in your shoes for twenty years, that I will always care about you, if only because you are the soul other person like me. I will always look out for you because you see; we are the only two like ourselves in existence. We have a bond Daniel, whether you want it or not, because of this fact. When you finally realize that the world is not the perfect nurturing place you imagine it to be, I want you to remember that my door will always stand open."_

Tears streaked down my face for the umpteenth time that day. Why did he have to be right? Why did this happen to me? I did nothing but risk my life for what was good and right and this is how the universe repays me? I'm stuck here in the clouds with no friends, and without a family. I stared at the plane; now a dot in the distance. I did have one option, one place I could go where someone would at least understand what I was going through. I may not like that person, but that person has wanted me for a long time. Besides what other option did I have? Where else, exactly, was I going to go?

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and descended below the clouds. I had gone far enough out that I couldn't see the city anymore. Farms lay beneath me like a quilt that kept the earth warm. I found the main highway and fell a little further towards it, searching for a rest stop where I knew from many family trips, a map would most likely be. I finally spotted one, a tiny little hut next to the long ribbon of road. I changed course and headed towards it. The sun was starting to set in the sky splashing color all over the clouds. I picked up the pace slightly; Wisconsin was still a long ways away.


	3. Chapter 3: A Little Dirt Don't Hurt

AN/: if you ask me i think this chapter is a nice little break from all the angst in the first two. I like it anyway i think it's a little funny. Once again thank you for giving my humble little story here a chance. You guys are too kind. (beams)

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 3: A Little Dirt Don't Hurt

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday May, 31, 2010, 7:44PM_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:13PM_

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**Danny's POV:**

I stood in the dark at the end of a white gravel driveway. A cow mooed in the distance and crickets made sure that no one was left in any sort of silence. My eyes brightly glowed, allowing me to use my night vision to see the enormous house before me, and the grand staircase that lead up to the front door. I looked again at the brochure I had picked up from a rest stop. 'The Vladimir Masters Estates' it proudly declared at the top. On the inside there was a short history of Vlad's rise into riches along with where his house was located. A small place to park had been built on the opposite side of the road, so that people could come and take pictures of 'The Home of the Dairy King and Current Residence to Vladimir Masters'. I double checked the address to make sure I was at the right place. Though I guess that was stupid, as there aren't many mansions in the middle of Wisconsin.

I had stopped periodically at rest stops along the highway to make sure I was headed in the right direction. I knew the general area where Vlad lived in Wisconsin and as soon as I got close, brochures started showing up, advertising the old home of the Dairy King. I had picked one up with a map on it, but I still stopped at rest stops anyway; just to make double sure I was going the right way or maybe to stall. Either way I needed the rest those stops provided. I had been flying for a good five hours and I was exhausted. As if to reiterate the fact I opened my mouth in a wide yawn.

I don't know why I was still standing at the end of the driveway; of course this was Vlad's house. All I had to do now was walk up the driveway and knock on the door. It was as easy as pie. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and walk up to my enemy's porch, knock cheerfully on the expensive stained oak, and wait for the fruitloop himself to welcome me in with open arms. Yep it was a piece of cake from here. I had already done all the hard work by flying out here, all that was left to do was go and knock on the door to let him know I was here. I just had to walk up the steps to the front door of my enemy's mansion and ask for help. Oh yeah, a real cake walk.

I transformed into my human half with a flash of light. It was immediately darker and I was slightly disoriented. I willed my green eyes forth so I could see better. Nervously I put one foot in front of the other and I crunched along the white gravel driveway. Feeling a little more of my dignity fall away with each step. I kept my eyes on the ground not really wanting to face what was in front of me. I stopped when I came to the bottom of a flight of white marble steps. I rolled my eyes; the fruitloop was so excessive. I sighed again and looked up at the front door. From here it looked like it was at the top of a mountain.

My eyes were complaining about being forced open. I was so tired. Sure, I was used to pulling all-nighters, and usually I was pretty good at handling the after affects, but I had been using my powers constantly for the past five hours, and I could feel it. My energy was low and I wasn't going to make it much longer before I just passed out. I sighed and forced my sore limbs to move. I took it one step at a time until I got to the top of all twenty-three stairs. Why someone would need that many stairs leading up to their front porch was beyond me.

I took my eyes off the ground and they found the double doors. For doors, right now they seemed pretty intimidating. It was easy to imagine them in the entrance to a haunted house with the enormous lion knockers and the dark stain of the wood. I had a private laugh with myself as I realized that technically the house was haunted. However the slight realization did nothing for the situation at hand.

I looked at the rest of the front porch as if searching for instructions about what to do next. There were no chairs or places to sit on the massive porch like you might expect. The only thing that took up space on the expanse of white marble was the occasional potted plant along the railing.

I sighed and looked back at the door.

"Suck it up Fenton, it's just a stupid piece of wood, you can do this." I looked the door over one more time before I went the last five or so feet towards it. I was finally there… and it wasn't so bad. I mean the door was pretty nice looking and I liked the way the grain looked under the stain. Maybe knocking on the door wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I could do this.

I took a breath and raised my fist; I let my knuckles hover over the polished lumber. I looked around idly, and I realized it was really dark out. It sounds like a stupid thing to notice to you, sure, but it got me wondering: exactly how late was it? I dropped my fist and walked out from under the protected porch onto the first few steps descending it. I spotted the moon high in the sky, not planning on coming down any time soon. It had to be pretty late. I mean I didn't even know if Vlad was awake or not, and If my parents were any indication then there was no way he was awake at this hour. He probably wouldn't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night. If I did wake him I had no trouble imagining him getting angry with me and blasting me back to Amity. I didn't know if he was a morning person or not. Was he a light sleeper? Would he be upset if he was disturbed? Would he be angry? I didn't know and I really didn't want to take the chance to find out.

I looked back at the door and then back out into the night. Maybe I could wait until morning? Yeah that could work; I would just wait until a more reasonable hour to knock on the door. It's not like the fruitloop would know that I'd been out here all night. I'd probably be better received too if I waited. It was the perfect plan.

I walked back up to the top step and sat down to wait. I let out another yawn and stretched my arms. I was definetily doing the smart thing here. I mean who knows what sort of insane reaction I was going to get from him if I woke him up in the middle of the night? Yep this was definitely one of my smarter plans.

I rested my head on my hands and looked out into the night sky. My eyes begged to be allowed to close. I went ahead and let them. I'd just give my eyes a rest; there wasn't any harm in that. I listened to my own breathing and how it matched up to the sounds around me. I listened for a while letting my mind go blank. I felt oddly comfortable for being on a cold marble step, but hey I wasn't complaining. I let my brain idle, forgetting where I was and why. Then somewhere along the line, without my discresion, I went from awake to asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: No I'm the Other Black Haired

AN/: Okay you guys are just lucky so don't expect updates this quickly all the time! In fact this is the end of what I have written out already so don't expect anything for a couple of weeks. I like this chapter. I know Vlad is out of Character, but I like him this way and if you don't then you don't have to read it! I've seen him way more out of character than this so yeah, okay whatever just thought I'd warn you a little bit. Because my Vlad is basically like the real Vlad only he's well... you'll find out. gezze.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 4: No, I'm the Other Black Haired Boy That Shows Up on Your Doorstep Mysteriously Asleep.

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Tuesday June, 1, 2010, 5:58PM_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:14 PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

I whistled on my way to the front door. Today was going to be a good day. I rarely had them, but I knew when I was having a good one. The sun was shining and the deal I had been working on for some time now finally went through last night. I had my favorite breakfast this morning and my favorite suit just got back from the cleaners. Yes, today was going rather nicely.

I picked up my briefcase from the small table by the door; glancing at my watch to see how much time I had before I had to be to work. I watched as the numbers changed from 7:59 to 8:00. Right on time. I confidently put my hand on the door knob and opened the door on a rare, perfect day,

and stopped dead.

There splayed out on my front porch was a certain black haired teenage boy.

At first I really could not get my brain to do anything. I just stared at the sleeping form lying on the cold white marble. His small chest moved up and down in a predictable rhythm. His arms and legs were arranged around him as if someone had casually thrown him there and he was still in the position he had landed in. His white and red t-shirt looked threadbare thin; the fabric was actually sporting a few holes. Not to be outdone his jeans were tailored to match. The bottom hem was long gone, and a frayed worn edge replaced it. A long rip went along the front of his lower leg; it too was frayed and worn. If one looked hard enough they might have been able to tell that the jean was once a vibrant ocean blue, but it now was barely blue at all; clearly having been used and abused, as no clothing article should. His shoes seemed to have never been remotely clean in their existence; if you really wanted to even call the things attached to his feet 'shoes'. The rubber soles were starting to fall off and the converse logo was barely discernable from the dirt and grit that covered it. To complete the image of homeless abandon teenager, his hair was sticking out in all different directions. So that if one was trying to judge from his hair alone you would not have been able to tell which direction gravity was pulling at the moment.

I assessed the teen on the ground and could not deny this was indeed Daniel. This truly was Daniel James Fenton that had decided my front porch would make a lovely bed, and for a long minute I tried to get my head to move past the fact. As soon as I was capable of higher thought my brain went into overdrive; a million and one questions were running through my head. Was he hurt? How long had he been here? Why didn't he knock earlier? _Did_ he knock earlier? How did he get here? Did his parents know he was here? How did he know where to go? Why was he here in the first place? What did he want? How long would he have stayed out here? When was the last time he ate? Was he ill? What could he possibly be here for?

My head spun with all of the unanswered questions. I tried to think of one logical reason to why Daniel would be asleep on my front step, but was unsuccessful. I cautiously ventured towards the sleeping form on the ground; still not quite able to believe my eyes.

"Daniel?" I whispered and the boy's leg twitched. He rolled over onto his stomach, his limbs still spread out at odd angles.

"Don't shoot, please don't hurt…" Daniel looked distraught, and muttered in his sleep. The wrinkles of his shirt were imprinted onto his face from having rested on them so long. I raised an eyebrow at his odd sentence. Daniel went back to lightly snoring having settled into a new position. I took a step backward towards the front door.

Why on earth was he here, asleep, on my front porch? I quietly moved back into the house and shut the door with a soft click. I deliberately set my briefcase back down on the small table I had removed it from and wondered what the cheese doodles to do next? It's not like I had planned for this sort of thing. I mostly imagined that if Daniel came to me he would be fighting me tooth and nail the entire way or he at least would have called first! Did the boy ever think ahead? What exactly is a responsible adult supposed to do when a half ghost teenager, or rather any teenager, suddenly appears on their doorstep? I moved to a window and looked out; he was still there, fast asleep, innocent as ever.

"What are you doing here Daniel?" I wondered aloud to myself. Though surely nothing short of a catastrophe could have caused him to come willingly within twenty feet of me. If something had happened to his family, wouldn't he have gone to his little friends' houses? Perhaps something had happened to his friends as well. Though if something had happened to that many people it was sure to have been on the news, and I had seen nor read anything that bespoke of a tragedy great enough to have explained anything.

More importantly what should I do with the boy now that he's here? I very well couldn't just leave him there. I looked out the window again to watch him shift himself around. Perhaps… I should wake him up?

The thought quickly vanished from my head. No, that would never do. He would probably become angry with me for some inane reason and fly off before I got the chance to get more than two civil words out of him. The boy had such a short temper. Whatever happened I couldn't just leave him there on the front porch. I wasn't just going to walk around something like this and continue on my way to work!

I suppose I would have to carry him inside. I had several spare rooms ready; it would simply be a matter of getting him into a bed without waking him up. Yes that could work; Daniel would wake up in my house and not on the front porch where he might decide to leave without letting me know. If I knew Daniel he had not intended to be found in quite such a compromising position, and it was likely he would run off if he was woken in such a state by his 'arch nemesis'.

He clearly intended to knock on my front door to ask me for something, though I had not a clue what that might be. It was hard enough to swallow the fact that he was at my house, let alone that he was going to willingly ask for something. I sighed. I was getting nowhere with my speculating I would simply have to wait for when the boy woke up to receive some answers.

He would need to be fed too when he woke up, and he'd surely need a shower and a change of clothes. There was no way I was letting him stay in _any_ clothing after sleeping on the ground for who knows how long. Heaven knows why he insists on wearing those atrocities in the first place.

However, I would need to wait until he woke up to do anything like that, and I couldn't very well leave him in my house unattended while I left for work. Especially if I wanted him to stay put and my house to continue to stand. Oh no no no, he could not be left here to his own devices. The teen was unpredictable; I hadn't even figured out why he was here in the first place. I couldn't call in the maids to watch him either, he could easily slip by them. I sighed as I realized I would be taking my first sick day in over fifteen years. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone.

I briefly stared at the little device in my hand as another thought hit me. Should I call Jack and Maddie? There was no way they knew he was here if he was currently sleeping on my front porch, but what had caused the teen to run in the first place? If he was here he clearly did not want to be found. This was certainly the last place anyone would look for Daniel.

Why in the blazes had Daniel chosen my front porch with all the places he had to go? I sighed and shook my head. However confusing Daniel chose to be at times I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If I called Maddie and Jack they would surely be over in mere hours; no doubt breaking several traffic laws along the way. Really the last thing I wanted was for Daniel to leave. The longer he stayed here the better. However, as soon as the boy woke up he would have some serious explaining to do. Flipping open the phone, I dialed my secretary and waited until she picked up.

"_Hello this is DALV Co. Mr. Masters is not in at the moment would you like to leave a message?" _I raised my eyebrows at how genuinely cheery and ready to help she sounded.

"Yes, Helena, This is Vlad. I'm not going to be able to make it into the office today, some unexpected personal matters have come up and I would like to be able to deal with them properly." There was some rustling on the other end of the phone and when she spoke next she seemed flustered.

"_M-Mr. Masters! Yes of course I'll take care of everything right away! I didn't know it was you, you've just never called in a sick day before and I was-"_

"Helena it's quite alright. I don't like to take days off very often it's true but even I need an extra day occasionally. I'm sorry I took you by surprise." I cut her off and didn't hide an amused smile at how startled she seemed to be. She was hasty in her response, egger to please and make sure she had done nothing wrong.

"_No of course there is nothing wrong with a day off! Please it's no trouble at all, I'll get right on letting the board know you will be absent this afternoon, and I'll field all of your messages until you get back. I've got everything covered there is nothing to worry about while you are away."_

"Thank you Helena you don't know how much that means to me. Well I'm afraid I must be going now. Do have a lovely day."

_"Yes of course, I'm sorry to keep you. Have a good day Mr. Masters!"_ I hung up the phone after we exchanged goodbyes. Slipping my phone into my pocket, I looked out the window once again. In the short time I had called my secretary Daniel had maneuvered so that half of him was on the stairs and half of him was on the landing; the half on the stairs happening to be his upper body. I shook my head. How the boy even managed to fall asleep on a solid rock slab, I will never know.

I took off my suit jacket so I could move more freely. So I didn't make any noise, I phased through the front door as opposed to opening it. Daniel scooted around a bit as I moved closer. I had to keep down an amused laugh as his arm twitched and flopped across his body as if he were trying to swipe at something. I silently reached between the peaks of two steps to get a hold on his lower back. I then took my other arm and wiggled it beneath his knees and in one motion stood up so that he rested bridal style in my arms.

I thought he had woken up when his arms reached up and wrapped around my neck. I held my breath and waited for the screaming to start. Instead Daniel shifted in my arms and snuggled his head into my chest. He pulled himself up and tightened his hold around my neck before seeming to decide he was comfortable. I had to do a double take when he spoke once again in his sleep. His voice was so clear and desperate I was positive he was awake.

"Help me."

The odd command startled me; I wondered what on earth was going on inside that head of his. It could be nothing good that much was for sure. Though it was most likely a nightmare, I could not deny that I was secretly elated to have the teenager clinging to me in such a way. Even if he wasn't conscious of his decision. He thought of me as a villain but I honestly worried about the boy. He lived in a house of ghost hunters. His own parents hunted him every day, and to add to the problem he was dealing with his ever increasing ghost powers. Which I knew still had a long way to go before they were both fully developed and under control. He could not have imagined a more delicate environment to live in.

I partly wanted him as a son because he was half ghost, but another side of me, really the larger side, felt an obligation to keep him safe. He was still a mere teenager and he had to deal with his ghost powers. I had received mine in college, where I lived alone, and it was easy to miss a few classes. At least I could support myself and not have to hide within my own home. He really had things much harder than I had, and things for me were no walk in the park. I knew what he was going through and I knew he was going to need help. He was the only other like me in existence, of course I felt some sort of protective nature for the boy.

I waited for his snoring to start back up before I made any more moves. While I was very amused at the sleeping child's antics, I was all too aware that things would head south very quickly if he woke up. He would not be pleased with his current predicament. I slowly and smoothly walked up the few steps I had descended to get a decent hold on him, and phased us through the door. I walked with the sleeping teen in my arms to the main staircase. His feet dangled over my arms, and his head rested lightly against my chest. I didn't try to repress a warm smile at the sight before me. He looked so peaceful and he was finally where he belonged, if only until he woke up, in my tender care.

We ascended the stairs and I brought him to a spare room not far from the top of the staircase. I phased us through the bedroom door. It wasn't all together one of my best rooms but it would do for now; at least until he woke up and I could figure a few things out. Like what on earth had prompted him to come to my doorstep after two and a half years of being unambiguous rivals.

As I approached the king sized bed I made a duplicate and had it go ahead of me to pull back the covers. When Daniel's leg twitched, drawing my attention to it, I realized he could not be allowed to go to bed with his shoes on. My duplicate, really being just and extension of myself, heard my thoughts and acted accordingly. Quickly phasing Daniel's worn converse off of his feet and setting them at the end of the bed. Daniel all the while clung tightly to my neck like a small child might to its mother.

When my duplicates job was done it was quickly reabsorbed and I moved to the side of the bed. Gently, I set the sleeping teen onto the expensive mattress; or rather I tried. Daniel desperately clung to my neck refusing to let go. I rolled my eyes; the teen was insufferably stubborn even in his sleep. I lightly tried to pry the teen's hands from my neck but was met with a good deal of resistance. I was about to simply phase out of his grip when he spoke once again in that clear tone of voice that made me sure he was awake.

"Don't leave me here." I glanced at the boy, making sure for the second time that he was indeed asleep. His eyes were undeniably closed, but his rest in no way appeared peaceful. Indeed shear panic was played out on the teens face. I sighed and came to decision. He clearly was not aware of his actions, but he _was_ responding to his surroundings.

"I'm not leaving Daniel, I'll be back." I quietly whispered as not to startle him. At first there was no response, which made me feel rather idiotic for talking to a sleeping person. Not to mention my embarrassment had gotten me nowhere. As I was about to come up with another plan he responded.

"Promise?" His voice was muffled into my chest so that I barley caught it.

"Yes I promise." I made my voice as reassuring as I could. Apparently that was all he needed because he abruptly let go and fell the last few inches onto the bed. I shook my head at the strange teen and rubbed the back of my neck. If one thing was certain he had gotten a lot stronger since our last encounter. I watched him roll around under the covers and utter a few incoherent mutterings before he settled once again into even snores.


	5. Chapter 5: Rubadubdub Slip Slide

AN/: HOLY FREAKIN CRAP GUYS! I cannot believe the response I am getting for this story. Really I am having a hard time grasping that you all like it so much. I keep getting story alerts and favs and comments and stuff. OMG you guys are gonna make my head too big! So I got my butt into gear and I worked on this chapter every day after school. (those comments really do motivate me to get cracking, probably a little more than you know) I tried to get this to you guys as fast as I could just because you guys are being so awesome to me. I'm pretty happy with this chapter, but I'm not sure how you all are going to react to it. I think a couple of you will be surprised and another few will be disappointed, and another few will be annoyed that I cut it off where I did. (hehe... don't hurt me!) Anyway after you finish reading the chapter you'll understand, but it might be a little bit longer before I get the next update up. I want to do it from both POV because I think they would both have some interesting points to cover. Anyway I hope you all like this chapter as much as you have liked the other ones. (oh and for anyone who likes to go through and critique while they read I had a couple of things you might want to look out for. Do Danny's emotions go up and down too much? Does Danny's reaction seam appropriate? There is barely any dialogue in this chapter, does staying in Danny's head get a little boring?) Thanks once again guys for reading, really you all flatter me to no end.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 5: Rub-a-dub-dub Slip Slide in the Tub

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday June, 5, 2010, 4:43PM_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:15 PM_

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**Danny POV**

Oh god I was comfortable. I mean, I didn't even know it was possible to be this comfortable. I really didn't care that I had to go to the bathroom so bad my bladder was going to explode, or that my stomach hurt because I was so hungry. I absolutely did_ not _want to move. As far as I knew I would never be this comfortable again, so I was going to savor it while it lasted. In fact, if Skulker came in right now I don't think I would get out of bed to fight him. I was _that_ comfortable.

I kept my eyes closed and stayed completely still. I did not want to wake up and then not be able to return to this blissful state. Instead I let my other senses tell me about my surroundings. It had to be a little later in the day. I could feel the sun beating down on the comforter and making it warm, and I could see the sunlight through my eyelids. I could hear birds chirping outside. That was kind of weird though. Birds didn't usually hang out around our house. Well really, any sane living organism didn't hang out around our house. The explosions and screaming with the weird flashes of light were enough to make anyone wary. I ignored the birds with no self-preservation instincts; passing it off as an anomaly and tried to take full advantage of my current situation by attempting to fall back asleep.

I was almost back to sweet oblivion when I heard a little 'chink'. Almost like someone was setting a cup down on a saucer or something, but that couldn't be right. We didn't own any saucers. Well, at least that were used for their intended purpose. My dad used them in the lab as petri dishes. Besides the sound itself being weird, it was even weirder that I'd heard it in _my_ room. Why the heck would there be fine china in here?

Furthering my confusion there was this soft ruffling sound, exactly like if someone had been reading the newspaper and was turning the page. That wasn't possible either because we didn't get the paper anymore. The paperboy refused to deliver any papers on my street after the twentieth time my dad had blasted him with ecto goop.

What the heck was with all of these strange noises? I almost opened my eyes to wake up and see what the deal was about. Not quite though, my curiosity could wait. There was no way I was moving out of my bed right now. I don't care if you were the freaking President of the United States, I was too damn comfortable.

The noises having made me slightly more alert, I finally noticed that my sheets smelled weird, and that my bed was way bigger than it should have been. Suddenly my idle curiosity wasn't so idle. Why the heck was I in someone else's bed? The only bed this big in the house was Mom and Dad's. Had I slept in their bed? Gezze that was embarrassing, I hadn't slept in their bed since I was like six. Something was still off though; it just didn't feel like my parent's bed, or even their room for that matter.

The fact that I had no clue where I was sleeping was starting to creep me out. Enough so that I had forgotten about how insanely comfortable I was. It had gotten to the point where I didn't really know if I was safe anymore. I'd been in enough creepy situations to know when ignoring the weirdness was going to do more harm than good. Disregarding the consequences I opened my eyes.

"Good morning Daniel."

"AHHHH!" I flung myself out of bed and landed on the floor with a thump. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet; prepared to fight whatever was there. I scanned the room swiftly as I settled into a fighting stance.

It didn't take long to find what had startled me. There was a man, more specifically Vlad, sitting in an armchair on the opposite side of the bed. A newspaper was folded up on the floor next to him, and a small cup of tea was on the table that stood by the chair. Vlad didn't have a suit jacket on, and he was wearing an amused smirk. If Vlad was here, that was bad news. I tried to brush away the fact that the fruitloop had been watching me while I slept, the creeper. He was still smirking that twisted evil smirk at me and it put me on the defensive. A hot blush rose to my cheeks as I realized that he was smirking at me, and my rather abrupt exit of the bed. I tried to cover up my embarrassment by shooting a question at him.

"What the heck are you doing here?" He only seemed more entertained with my question as he raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I just so happen to live here Daniel. What are _you _doing here?" His answer made me frown. He lives here? Then that would mean I was in Vlad's house. Why the heck would I-

Oh.

My heart sunk through the floor as I remembered, why exactly, I would be at Vlad's house. My shoulders sagged and I let my eyes wander to the floor. All of the life left my eyes. 'Oh' didn't exactly cover it in this situation. When your family basically abandons you and the friends you thought you could trust your life with betray you, you'd think a person would be able to come up with a better way to describe their situation.

If you believe that, then you have obviously never been in my position. My life was officially over; what was I supposed to say? Not even the most depressing, angry word I could think of did the scenario any justice. I honestly wanted to cry, and you can't blame me either. Everything that had defined me had just been torn away from me in the most brutal way possible. I felt my eyes get hot and I blinked to try to keep in the tears threatening to fall.

"Daniel?" I looked reluctantly back up at the billionaire. He was giving me a quizzical look. Oh god I could not be like this in front of Vlad. Before he could ask me what was wrong I created an escape for myself, so I could get away from Vlad before I broke down.

"Hey you got a bathroom in this place?" He seemed a little annoyed with my cutting off his conversation but he reluctantly answered.

"Yes. It's that door on over there." He waved his hand in the direction of a white door on the wall furthest from the window. Without acknowledging whether I had heard him or not, I high tailed it out of there and into my safe haven. I shut the door a little harder than was probably necessary, and leaned up against it.

I breathed in a shaky breath and let it out slowly to try to keep my emotions under control. A dam seemed to break anyway and tears rained down my cheeks. The memories replayed in my head over and over, like a broken video tape. All I really wanted to do was forget about everything that had happened to me within the last twenty-four hours. The pain was too much. I could feel it in my chest; it was a biting suffocation that was making it hard to breath. I wanted to forget; to pretend that everything was going to be okay.

I decided distracting myself would be the best way to accomplish that goal so I looked around the room and took in my new surroundings. The bathroom was huge, bigger than three of the ones in my house put together.

My eyes wandered over the toilet and my bladder quickly reminded me that it was full. I answered natures call and was done washing my hands in what seemed like seconds. Pausing, I stared at the glossy silver sink. I had never seen a motion sensor sink in anywhere but a public bathroom before. I occupied myself briefly by waving my hand quickly in front of the sensor and avoiding the little jets of water that came out. However amused I might have been with the action at another time, I wasn't now. The only thing it was really doing for me was giving my hands something to do. Despite my attempts to keep my mind off of the more depressing aspects of my situation, my mind dwelled heavily on them anyways.

I was going to have to talk to Vlad. That really sucked. Not as much as the reason I was here in the first place, but it was up there. Vlad's snide remarks about how 'foolish' I was weren't exactly what I needed right now. I sighed and stopped playing with the faucet.

I actively looked for more ways to stall. I wasn't going to lie to myself. I really did not want to have that conversation, especially not with Vlad of all people. I ran my hand through my hair and my fingers got stuck in little tangles. I worked out the little knots before I looked at my hair in the mirror.

God I looked like a hobo. There was dirt smeared all over my face, my eyes were all puffy from crying, and my hair seemed to defy gravity and stuck out at weird angels while it was pressed closely to my head in others. As I inspected my appearance a very large bath tub caught my eye in the mirror. I turned around to look at it; I really could use a bath. Vlad couldn't complain if I wanted to take one; he was all about hygiene and weird crap like that.

I walked over to the tub and tried to figure out which knob was hot and which was cold. After some fiddling around I got it to the temperature I wanted. I stood next to the tub for a minute before I realized that it was going take a while to fill up all the way. The thing was more like a Jacuzzi than a tub.

While I waited for the tub to fill I looked around for some towels, realizing I would be needing some. I prayed that there were some in the closet and that I wouldn't have to go ask Vlad. I smiled a weak smile when my prayers were answered. I took out two of them; one for the floor and one for me. The things were enormous; at least twice the size of a regular towel. On a littler shelf above the towels was a stack of wash clothes. I figured I probably need one of those too. Clean and soft, all of the cloth was a snowy white. I hung up one of the towels on a convenient little hook that was next to the tub and spread the other one out on the floor where I figured I would be getting out. I left the washcloth I had grabbed on the edge of the tub.

A little more comfortable with my new surroundings, and a little more time having passed; I went back to the edge of the tub. It was full enough now that I could sit in it and be in the water somewhat while it finished filing up. I took off my clothes and climbed into the water. It was nice and hot; it was actually steaming a little. I looked around for some soap and found a whole shelf above the tub full of it. It was like a rainbow of different colors and scents. But for as many soap bottles the shelf held there wasn't anything normal like what I used at home. Most of the labels were written in French and I couldn't even understand what they said. I riffled through all of the bottles and gave them all a sniff before I decided on one that looked and smelled the most like what I usually used.

Even now that I was doing something the 'distracting myself' plan wasn't really working out. Everywhere I looked I was reminded that I wasn't home. The towels, the Jacuzzi, the soap, all of it was different and constantly mocking me. The weight of the situation I had landed myself in would not leave my shoulders. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. My parents wanted me dead. They didn't accept me. This is what I had feared all along. My friends and my sister had tried to quell my fears constantly pointing out how in alternate realities they had accepted me. I knew though, that my parents would have a hard time accepting the truth. But I never thought that they would outright refuse to believe it. Deep down I thought that no matter what, they would always accept me; that was what they had taught me to believe after all. How many times had they said they would accept me no matter what I chose? That even if I was accused of murder they would stand by my side. They had gone back on their word just like I had feared. They didn't want me, and in fact they were disgusted with the fact that I existed.

I had been mindlessly washing myself as I was deep in thought. I realized I had run out of places to scrub that weren't already clean. My head dropped as I realized I really couldn't put Vlad off much longer. Unfortunately I could not stay in the bathroom forever. I was going to have to go talk to him. He was going to want answers, and I if knew Vlad he wasn't going to rest until he got what he wanted.

With a sigh of reluctance I drew in a breath and plunged my head underwater to get all the soap off. I came up in a little area without any suds in it, and maneuvered my way out of the tub so that as little of the bubbles stuck to me as possible. Wrapping the huge towel around my body I went to go put my clothes back on when I noticed something by the door that wasn't there before. I walked over to get a better look at what was on the floor. When I got close enough I realized it was a stack of clothes with some shoes underneath. There was a little slip of paper on top of the neatly folded laundry. I picked it up with my wet fingers and read the medium sized note written in tight scribbles.

_-I heard the water turn on and assumed you would need a change of clothes. I phased these through the door. If you even think about wearing those rags you call 'clothes' instead of these you will not be getting lunch. There are a new tooth brush and toothpaste in the closet on the second highest shelf. You will find a brush in the drawer under the sink. There should be a white basket in the corner; put all of the used towels and your clothes in there and the maids will take care of it. By the time you are done I assume it will be about time to have lunch. I am in the room across the hall doing paperwork._

_-Vladimir Masters_

His signature was at the bottom in tight loops. Really I could only guess it was his name. The only two letters I could make out were the 'V' and the 'M'. I set the note, now halfway soaked from my hands, on the sink counter and picked up the clothes. As I inspected the clothes I was thrown for a loop.

I'd expected, if Vlad was going to force me to wear something, that it would be a mini version of what Vlad usually wore. Mainly that he would expect me to dress like I was going to a wedding or some crap like that. I was surprised when the only thing that was really too formal was the black oxford shirt. The rest of it was relatively normal.

On the top of the neat little pile there was a box that looked like the ones my mom's jewelry came in. Thinking that Vlad was going to have me wear some sort of necklace, I opened the box. I was relived and surprised at the same time. In the box there wasn't a necklace or any jewelry it was a watch. It was shiny, silver, and instead of numbers there were roman numerals. So it took me a minute to figure out that the watch said it was 11:26. I set the box aside and went to looking at the rest of it.

There was a plain black leather belt, a pair of new black boxers, a white undershirt... I paused when I got to the jeans. Yup you heard me _jeans._ Don't get the wrong impression though, they were way smaller than what I normally wore, and were going to fit like the ones my mom tried to get me to wear. Not to mention there wasn't any sort of weathering or holes in them. They were pretty much the most formal looking jeans I had ever seen in my life, but they were still jeans, and I was very happy about that little fact.

Underneath the jeans were my shoes, which only made me more confused, but happy at the same time. They were converse; black high top converse to be specific. They even still had the little pieces of cardboard in them like they had just been bought form the store. I glanced back at my red converse on the floor by my ball of dirty clothes. Out of shear curiosity I went to pick up my old pair and set them right next to the new ones. The new ones might as well have been dress shoes, like I had expected, next to my red ones. There wasn't any denying it; next to the new ones, my old ones looked like crap.

I looked at the clothes Vlad had given me and was extremely confused. Really I had expected a dry cleaned suit and some shinny shoes with an uncomfortable tie, but here I was holding some relatively normal clothes instead. I could even see myself going to school in this stuff. None of it was all that bad, but I still felt a little weird about wearing it. They were still from the fruitloop and that in and of itself was weird enough to make me uncomfortable. I looked over at the note that I had found on top of the whole mess and my stomach growled. Well it looked like I would be wearing the new stuff whether I liked it or not.

It didn't take long to get ready after that. I phased all the water off of my body, instantly drying my hair. I put the new clothes on and just like I expected it all felt stiff and had that 'new' smell. I left the oxford unbuttoned and untucked, and I made sure the watch was loose around my wrist. My new converse felt kind of weird, but they did fit and I took my time lacing them up the right way. I followed Vlad's directions to find the toothbrush and toothpaste, and brushed my teeth. All of the dirty laundry made it to the hamper, and I cleaned up anything else I had used while I got ready.

Finally the bathroom got to the point where there wasn't anything left to tidy or straighten out, and I was completely clean and ready for the day. I found myself looking around and wondering what to do next when it hit me.

I was going to have to go talk to Vlad now.

Crap.

Well, I had to get this over with some time I guess. My shoulders slumped in uncertainty and I made my way to the door before I could change my mind and decide to hide in the bathroom for all of eternity. I slowly cracked the door open and peered out to see if anyone was there. No one was; it was empty as ever. A light breeze blew in the open window and ruffled the curtains. It looked like someone had made the bed. Vlad's tea and newspaper from earlier were gone.

Feeling it was safe, I opened the door all the way and came out into the main room. The door to the hallway was open so there wouldn't be any checking to see if the coast was clear with this door.

As silently as my ghost half would allow I made my way to the door. My heart skipped a beat once I got to the point where I could see into the hallway. The door across the hall, where Vlad said he would be, was open too. I momentarily froze and fought the strong urge to run in the other direction. I had to do this, I didn't have anywhere else to go, and I was being paranoid. If Vlad wanted to do anything to me he would have done it by now. I had nothing to be afraid of. I needed to go and talk to him eventually. My stomach growled loudly reminding me that I needed to eat too. I took a deep breath and walked across the hall and to the other room.

I stopped at the thresh hold not really able to force myself to go much further when I saw Vlad sitting in an office chair typing furiously away. He was staring so intently at his work I could have sworn he didn't know I was there. I watched as he finished typing and clicked on the mouse a few times. After shuffling a couple of papers into a neat pile he looked up at me and smiled.

"So he can dress like he's not an adolescent. I thought I'd never see the day."


	6. Chapter 6: I Never Really Liked Fish

AN/: Alright guys, guess what i did all day today? That's right I cranked this out in one day. Okay that's not true, really I wrote the dilouge last night and i typed up all the fluff today but still! In such a case I've been through it a couple times, but i'm sure there are tons of little grammar things. Like i like to hit the ';' instead of the ' sometimes, or just randomly after i finish typing a word. I'm sure i got my excepts and my accepts mixed up at some point. oh and here's a question for someone with nothing better to do: what is the diffrence between 'realy' and 'really' i can't for the life of me figure it out short of cracking open a dictionary, but i'm just too lazy for that. *grins* If you all really hate it or there are too many errors then i'll take it down and tweak it, but it's to the point where I like it, so i dunno it's really up to you guys. If you want to read Danny's POV first than scroll down and It starts somewhere down there. Or you can read Vlad first. Whichever one you read first i recomend you go back and reread it after you've read the other one. That's just my sugestion though. I would just like to say now that I do not write sad Danny very well, at least i don't think so. and Vlad is a little iffy too but in this chapter I like how he turned out better than Danny. Okay and another random thing: Does Vlad sound British to you? Random i know but i was wondering if that's just me. If any of you British poeple are out there you have to review and tell me if he sounds British! Okay you all must review becasue I feel very insecure about this chapter and i need to know whether it's a hit or a miss. i'll stop blabbing now and let you all read the chapter because I know my last update was a teaser! Happy reading! (and hopeully reviewing *crosses fingers*)

Oh one more thing. Hottiegally, if you are reading this I've tried to answer your reviews but you have your PM's turned off!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 6: I Never Really Liked Fish Sticks

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, June 6, 2010_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:16 PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

I heard him open the bathroom door when he came out, finally. There was only so much to do in that bathroom. I was secretly thankful he had chosen that bathroom in particular to hide himself in. It was one of my less exuberant ones and there weren't really any bells or whistles to it. I looked up to see a shell-shocked teen in the doorway. I smiled a coy smile.

"So he can dress like he's not an adolescent. I thought I'd never see the day." The boy really did clean up quite nicely. I personally would have had in a more dignified attire but I was going to have to play to his tune if I wanted to get anything out of him. I, of all people, was familiar with his ability to be insufferably stubborn. He looked slightly angered by my light teasing and replied.

"Gee thanks."

"No problem my boy. Now, I'm sure you're hungry. Let's get down to the dining room; Eduardo's keeping lunch warm for us." I turned off the computer and got out of my chair. While he was stalling, I had spent the majority of my time searching the Internet for any clues as to why my little badger was here. I walked past the still dazed teen in the doorway and made my way down the hall. I heard the teen sigh before he jogged a couple of steps to keep up with my brisk pace; I just caught what he muttered under his breath.

"Probably get's paid like, two cents an hour." I raised my eyebrows at the teen's comment, unsure if he came to that conclusion based on the origins of the name or the fact that he worked for me. Either way I wasn't going to go and let him think I scammed my employees.

"Actually he's quite well off. He sends all six of his children to a private school, and his wife is able to stay home without any strain on their finances." The comment had the desired effect; Daniel had no comeback and kept silent. I found the fact unnerving, though I didn't show it. Daniel usually took every opportunity to insult me or make some clever comment about how I was single. His lack of commenting made it painfully obvious something was wrong, and the fact that I had no clue what irked me to no end.

We turned a corner and walked down a flight of stairs. I didn't have to turn around to know the teen was following me, his loud heavy footsteps quite clearly indicated that he was behind me on the marble staircase. We continued to walk for a few feet before I started up a conversation. Perhaps I could wrangle a few things out of him without his knowing it.

"So, fight anyone interesting lately?" Daniel's footsteps paused for a moment before he was quickly back at my side, though not without a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"What's it to you? You should know anyway. Don't you have like, cameras everywhere?" He did not attempt to hide his disgust of how I kept tabs on him. I paid no mind. If he didn't understand that it was for his own good, then that was all the more reason to track him. I resisted the urge to sigh, and replied to the boy.

"Yes, I do. However, I cannot possibly follow you everywhere. The only fights I am aware of or get to record are the ones you have with Valarie, and sometimes with Skulker when I can convince him to let me see his 'battle tapes'." I didn't necessarily end the conversation but I didn't prod any further. I still needed him in a good mood for when I asked the more direct questions. We walked along in a silence I was sure was making him uncomfortable. I had no problem with it however. A person gets very used to silence when they live in a mansion by themselves.

"Undergrowth got out again last week." I was slightly surprised when he answered, not that I showed it, but I replied without missing a beat.

"Ah, yes, the weed. How is he? I haven't spoken with him since he put in my garden over a year and a half ago." Daniel replied sounding aghast.

"He put in your garden for you?" I had to hold down a smirk at the boy's blatant disbelief.

"Yes in case it had escaped your notice he's very good with things of that nature. With a little persuading he was more than happy to oblige." I saw Daniel shake his head out of the corner of my eye. He muttered under his breath.

"Whatever fruitloop." I stopped abruptly in front of two double doors, causing the teen beside me to stumble slightly. Allowing myself an amused smirk I opened the doors and proceeded into the dining room. I smiled more obviously when I spotted the extra chair. I had imagined it there so often for this purpose and there it finally was. Jeffry and Douglas were standing beside our place settings waiting for us.

"Can you say overkill?" The comment was obviously meant for my ears.

"There is nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life Daniel. I thought you knew that; you spent over an hour and a half in that bathroom." I had to hold down a chuckle when the teen deliberately avoided my gaze.

"Whatever." He was obviously unable to come up with a better comeback. I childishly let myself realize it was another victory for me.

I let Douglas expertly pull out my chair like he did every day; giving him a nod of thanks. I had a rather difficult time stopping a fit of laughter when Daniel yanked out his own chair and scooted it forward in little hops, instead of allowing Jeffery to do it for him. Douglas allowed Jeffry enough time to recover from Daniel's actions before they removed the silver domes over out plates. Daniel scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion and disgust.

"What the heck is this supposed to be?" He gestured towards his food like it was poisonous. I didn't miss the uneasy shifting of the butlers at Daniel's accusation. I sighed.

"Daniel it's perch with steamed vegetables and tartar sauce. You can order it at most any respectable restaurant, now stop playing with it and eat it." I continued to eat my lunch as Daniel stared at his. He didn't poke it with his utensils but he wouldn't eat it either. He looked back at me as if asking me if I was serious. I pretended not to notice. He looked up to the butlers in a last ditch effort and of course he got the desired results. It's what their paid to do after all. Jeffry, wanting to redeem himself if you will, took up the boy's unanswered question.

"We could always fetch something else for the young sir if he would like." Danny lit up like a Christmas tree and was about to confirm Jeffrey's idea before I beat him to it.

"That will be quite unnecessary. Daniel, eat your lunch." Honestly he hadn't even given it a try. I attempted to go back to eating my meal, but Daniel prevented that by snapping back at me.

"I don't have to do what you say." I lowered my fork and stared at him. It was increasingly rude for a guest to refuse a meal provided by the host, and I was willing to let that slide as long as the boy remained passive aggressive about it. However such blatant disrespect as deliberately contradicting me when I was providing him food and shelter at the moment was not acceptable. He was starting to grate on my nerves.

"The last time I checked you were under my roof Daniel, and so long as that happy fact stays true you will follow my rules." There was an uneasy silence in the air, so much so that even _I_ minded. At my words Daniel had deflated like a popped balloon. There was not an ounce of hope or defiance left in the boy. He stared at his food; his shoulders slumped. I watched form the corner of my eye as Daniel brought his hand up, grabbed his fork, cut a piece of his perch, and then proceeded to bring it towards his mouth to eat it.

That was it? That was all the fight he was going to put up? There was something seriously wrong with the boy if he was going to go along with what I said that easily. The Daniel I knew would never have taken an order from me; no matter how simple or mundane it was. Something was wrong and I needed to know what. I couldn't afford to spring the impending conversation on him when it seemed most appropriate. Not anymore. I needed to know what was the matter and I needed to know now. Why was he being so, well, compliant! Why wasn't he putting up a fight? His bizarre behavior was putting me on edge and I would be having none of that. I let my fork clatter to my plate getting everyone's attention. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Gentlemen if you would." I waved off the butlers impatiently. They gave hasty bows before they exited. I waited until I heard the door click shut to open my eyes and stare directly at Daniel. I made sure my voice was calm and low.

"Daniel, why are you here?" He looked away before he stuttered a response.

"W-what do you mean-" My fist fell to the table as I cut off the end of his question.

"Do not take me for an idiot Daniel! You would never come to me willingly no matter how much I wish it were true. If you thought you could show up on my front porch and be accepted into my house no questions asked, then you were sorely mistaken. As much as the prospect thrills me I cannot simply let you into my life without knowing the circumstances. I will ask one more time Daniel. Why. Are. You. Here." There was a ringing silence as Daniel tried his hardest to avoid my piercing gaze and I tried my hardest to catch his in it. He turned slightly away from me before he answered in the most timid voice I had ever heard, and believe me I have heard some very timid voices.

"I-I was wondering if I…could come stay with you?" I sighed and rubbed my temples coming down slightly from my rage.

"Yes Daniel, that was rather obvious when I found you asleep on a cold marble step on my way to work this morning. Now, you will tell me _the reason_ you showed up out of the blue, or you will not be allowed to stay here." Daniel looked horrified and angry at my threat.

"Can't you just be happy that I'm here and move on?" He waved his arms around on the verge of panic. The boy's raised voice had my anger back with vigor.

"No Daniel, I cannot! Not when it is blatantly obvious something is making you upset, or did you expect me to ignore the giant red flag you were waving in my face! Now, tell me what is wrong!"

"THEY DIDN'T ACCEPT ME! THERE, HAPPY NOW?" Total silence followed the boy's pronouncement. His eyes dropped to the floor and his posture positively collapsed. I was merely frozen in shock. He didn't have to say who didn't accept what; I knew exactly what would make him this upset. All of the anger drained from my face and arms. My shoulders relaxed and I watched as tears streamed down the teen's red face. He buried his face in his hands, not wanting to look at me. He shuddered in a breath and continued at a normal volume.

"I was in my room; my mom was trying to get me to come out. Skulker came through the wall and we fought. My parents heard the noise and panicked. They busted down the door to save me. When they saw Phantom not Fenton they demanded to know where their son was. I tried to tell them I didn't know, but they wouldn't believe me. My mom was hysterical. Dad threatened to shoot me in the head at point blank range. I didn't know what to do, so I transformed and told them that their son was alright." Daniel wiped his nose on his hand and breathed shakily a couple times before he continued. I continued to sit there completely still, listening intently to my little badger as he retold his tale.

"I'd never seen anyone as angry as my Dad was right then in my life. They demanded to know where the real Danny was. I didn't know what to tell them. When Dad was about to shoot, Jazz came running up the stairs providing a distraction. I took advantage of it and ran." Daniel then went abruptly silent. His form shook with silent sobs. I could see tears fall to the table from his cheeks. I wanted to comfort the boy, but I was unsure if I should. What do parents do when their teenager breaks down in front of them? If he still saw me as the enemy at this point would he even accept comfort from me? I had not the vauguest notion. Further, I was still confused as why he had come to me specifically. There was nothing in his story that indicated why he wouldn't go to his friends' houses.

I was broken from my wonderings when I heard a small whimper. My eyes snapped to the teen in front of me. Realization dawned as the small noise came again in sync with the teen's heaving. I had never heard such a helpless sound, let alone coming from _my_ little badger. I had seen him bloody and beaten, cocky and overconfident, angry and defiant, but I had never seen the teen break down so completely; not even through my spying had I ever seen him cry. To be so hurt that he was allowing himself such a display, and in front of me of all people… I didn't really care if he wanted to be comforted by me or not anymore, I couldn't just sit there while my little badger was so helpless.

I got out of my chair and fell to my knees next to Daniel. I turned his chair so he was facing me. He let me do as I pleased, almost completely oblivious to what was going on. His head bobbed up and down with his sobs; gasping desperately for breath. I only hesitated for a second before I wrapped my arms tightly around him, enveloping him in my arms. My head came down to rest on top of his and I pulled him close to my chest. I wrapped myself around him as much as I could, as if I could perhaps block all of the sorrow that was crashing into him at this moment. His crying, which was starting to settle down, picked up again. His sobbing, now near screams of agony, would have been rather loud if not for my shirt. His arms came up and he grabbed onto me like his life depended on it. His fists balled into my suit jacket nearly ripping the fabric as he trembled against my chest. He lost complete control of himself as his heart broke with sorrow. My own chest was constricting with pain at the emotional agony Daniel was in. I held onto him tighter and willed him to calm, to realize that I was here and that he was safe. That everything was going to be okay now. Slowly, ever so slowly, Daniel's lungs became too tired to keep up their routine. His wailing turned to coughing, and then whimpering, and that then turned to hiccups as his breathing struggled to return to it's normal rhythm. Daniel shifted his head slightly to be able to breathe better so I loosened my grip and allowed him to adjust. What I did not expect was for him to speak.

"My own par-_hic _parent's didn't _hic _didn't believe me _hic. _They think _hic _think I'm a monster _hic_. They want me de-_hic _dead." The utter despair in his voice ruthlessly squeezed at my heart. I thought desperately for something to say that would make him feel better but could think of nothing. I settled for rubbing circles up and down his back. I found the muscles there tense and in knots. Immediately I went to rub the tension away and he slowly relaxed on my chest as I rubbed his back. He laid there on my chest for some time; shuttering breaths in and out, sniffling, obviously trying his best not to get his snot everywhere. The consideration of the boy usually would have made me smile, but now it only made me more concerned. The boy had calmed down enough that I felt it was okay to pull him away from my shoulder and give him a handkerchief. He shyly accepted it and wiped his nose. I held him by the shoulders. His breath was no longer labored. He seemed to finally realize who exactly was holding him and I watched several emotions flicker across his face; fear, embarrassment, confusion, and finally acceptance. I smiled weakly at him as I wished at that moment that I had tried harder to be something other than an Arch Enemy to the boy so that he would not be so conflicted about accepting comfort from me. I tried to meet his gaze to ask one more question. Despite how much I simply wanted to let him be, there were still major parts of the puzzle I was missing. I still needed answers and this might be the only time I'll be in a position to get them.

"Daniel, forgive me, but I still don't understand. Why did you choose to come to me? Why didn't you go to Ms. Manson's or Mr. Foley's-"

"Don't talk to me about those traitors!" Daniel violently hiccupped and momentarily lost the ability to take in air. His face started to get hot; he was going to lose control again. I pulled him back onto my shoulder and held onto him tightly. I regretted instantly my decision to fish for answers. I stroked the back of his head and whispered in his ear.

"Shhhh, it's alright now little badger. Your safe now, no one is going to hurt you here. Of course you would come to stay with me. I'm here to take care of you now Daniel. I'm going to take care of everything, you'll see." The teen's hiccupping leveled out once again. I shifted a little under his weight as it became clear he could not be left here in the dining room. He was obviously exhausted and struggling to hold himself upright, leaning heavily on my chest. He paused shortly at feeling me move underneath him. Now that I had his attention I put my plan into action.

"Come now Daniel let's get you to your room." In much the same manner I picked him up off the porch; I lifted him from the chair. I was barely able to discern a blush of embarrassment form his already red face but it was definitely there. He avoided my gaze and kept his face in my chest. He held his arms in his lap. Silently tears continued to stream down his face. Occasionally his breath would shutter and I would squeeze him in my arms reassuringly. I phased us through the door to the room he had stayed in the night before and walked over to the bed. As I laid him down on top of the covers he looked anywhere but at me. He kicked off his shoes and wiggled his way under the covers; pausing to wipe away tears a few times. Only when his form stilled facing away from me did I begin to move towards the door. I was almost there when I was stopped in my tracks.

"Vlad." I slowly turned to see the teen had rolled over to face me. He looked straight into my eyes; making the first willing eye contact with me we'd had the entire conversation.

"Yes little badger?"

"T-thanks." He managed the most pitiful smile I have seen in a long while. I smiled sadly back at him.

"You're welcome Daniel." And with that I closed the door to his room so that he could wallow in peace.

As if it were a signal, when the door clicked shut a quiet furry was ignited within me. A maid, who had been walking down the hall I had just emerged into, recognized the signs of my restrained rage and smartly darted into the nearest room for her personal safety. Oh I was beyond mad. How dare that fat oaf do this to Daniel? To _MY _Daniel. He revealed his deepest darkest secret to them and they only spat back in his face. How DARE they! I found the rage currently boiling within me abruptly snuffing out any love I had for Maddie. What cruel woman would reduce their own child to such a state; to a quivering mess that would run to who he believed to be his enemy? What had they done to him to make him feel safer in my presence than theirs? Rage like I had never felt before consumed me and it was only the fact that Daniel was in the next room that stopped me from screaming and punching a hole through the wall. Oh I was angry, I was furious, irate. There is not a word strong enough to describe how I felt at that very moment. I could feel my eyes burn red and a slight pink hue enveloped my clenched fists. The lights in the hallway flickered and shorted as my electrical energy fluctuated dangerously around me. As soon as Daniel was fed and asleep for the night, I and a certain pair of ghost hunters were going to be having _much_ more than just words.

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**Danny's POV**

"What the heck is this supposed to be?" Okay I really already knew what it was; it was fish. But it wasn't like those frozen fish sticks you take out of the freezer that kind of taste okay with A LOT of ketchup. This was all weird. There wasn't any breading and there was this weird leaf crap on top.

"It's perch with steamed vegetables and tartar sauce. You can order it at most any respectable restaurant, now stop playing with it and eat it." I put down the fork I had been using to inspect the stuff. I looked over at Vlad; he was already back to eating, figures. I looked back at my plate and carefully studied the contents. It didn't look like there was any butter on the vegetables. How are you supposed to eat cooked veggies without butter? The man was so weird. I looked around the table silently for maybe a bottle of ketchup, some butter, heck I'd take salt at this point. When I found none my eyes drifted to the butler's. They were avoiding my gaze nervously. The one behind Vlad was more directly in my line of sight. I pulled out the puppy dog eyes and pleaded silently. It worked; though not on Vlad's guy, it was the guy behind me who spoke.

"We could always fetch something else for the young sir if he would like." I smiled at the success of my clever plan. Maybe I had a use for these guys after all. I was about to agree when Vlad cut me off.

"That will be quite unnecessary. Daniel, eat your lunch." I frowned. Come on it's not like he couldn't afford to have this Eduardo guy make me new meal or something. I wasn't going to take orders from him anyway.

"I don't have to do what you say." Vlad stopped in mid bite before looking at me. I didn't like that look. It meant he was going to get angry, and fast.

"The last time I checked you were under my roof Daniel, and so long as that happy fact stays true you will follow my rules." Whatever comeback I was going to use died in my throat. The physco was right; I _was _in his house. It was willingly too, and by choosing to come here I inevitably agreed to do things Vlad's way. I couldn't argue with Vlad's rules anymore because I had willingly accepted them. If I wanted to keep this roof over my head, I'd better get used to the idea. The realization made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. I was going to have to obey _Vlad_. That was a depressing thought. Well I'd already lost everything else, what difference did it make if my dignity went too? I picked up my fork and looked at the stuff on my plate. Maybe if I swallowed it fast enough I wouldn't taste it? I had taken my first bite and was working on the second when Vlad dropped his fork on his plate. I jumped a little and looked over at him. He looked like he was mad at something. It couldn't be at me though; I had done exactly what he wanted! Vlad waved his hand in the air a little bit.

"Gentlemen if you would." The butlers practically ran out of the room. It was obvious they knew Vlad was going to get mad too. I couldn't blame them for wanting to get out of the way. Vlad could be pretty freakin' scary when he put his mind to it. He brought his hand down from his face and looked at me.

"Daniel, why are you here?" Well that wasn't what I had expected. I had expected him to try to at least lull me into a sense of security before asking me. Vlad didn't just come out and say whatever was on his mind; that was my thing. My heart rate accelerated as I realized I was going to have to answer. I really_ really_ didn't want to, so I stalled some more.

"W-what do you mean-" His fist slammed down on the table causing everything on it to tremble. I recoiled in my seat my eyes getting wide.

"Do not take me for an idiot Daniel! You would never come to me willingly no matter how much I wish it were true. If you thought you could show up on my front porch and be accepted into my house no questions asked, then you were sorely mistaken. As much as the prospect thrills me I cannot simply let you into my life without knowing the circumstances. I will ask one more time Daniel. Why. Are. You. Here." His words had a biting edge that had me shrinking in my seat slightly. Remember what I said about Vlad being scary? He was doing a pretty good job of that right now. He wanted answers and he wanted them right _now_.

I squirmed on the inside. I didn't want to tell Vlad that my life was ruined. He wouldn't have any sympathy for me. He wouldn't understand. The last person I wanted to go to for stuff like this was my arch nemesis anyway. I averted my gaze the best I could, practically turning my back on him. His eyes had flashed red a couple of times, but it didn't look like he noticed. He was mad, I don't know why though; I was here wasn't I? Why did he care about the circumstances? I could practically feel the rage radiating off of Vlad next to me. I figured he needed an answer before he exploded.

"I-I was wondering if I…could come stay with you?" I was right about him needing an answer. He seemed to calm down a little bit, though he wasn't done with me yet. Not by a long shot.

"Yes Daniel, that was rather obvious when I found you asleep on a cold marble step on my way to work this morning. Now, you'll tell me the reason you showed up out of the blue, or you will not be allowed to stay here." I froze and panic started to worm its way into my chest. He wouldn't do that. H-he wanted me as his evil apprentice thing too much! He wouldn't just throw me out like that; he couldn't. Where else would I go? Why did he want to know what was wrong with me so bad anyway? Vlad's threat put me on edge and made me more confused. My voice rose a little in my panic.

"Can't you just be happy that I'm here and move on!" He stared straight at me, frustrated, angry, and was that worry? I must've set him off again because he was practically shouting now.

"No Daniel, I cannot! Not when it is blatantly obvious something is making you upset, or did you expect me to ignore the giant red flag you were waving in my face! Now, tell me what is wrong!" His loud voice and threatening posture where sending off warning bells in my head. I was starting to panic and fear for my safety. I was already strung out from the reason I was here in the first place; Vlad's threats were the last straw. I did not want to argue with Vlad right now. I wasn't sure I had the capacity to. I wanted him to stop asking me what was wrong and just leave me alone. I was spitting out the words before I knew what I was saying.

"THEY DIDN'T ACCEPT ME! THERE, HAPPY NOW?" I felt my face get hot as what I had just said sunk in. I had admitted it. I had said it out loud, and I couldn't go back now. My parents really did hate me. As much as I tried I couldn't keep the tears in my eyes any more. I buried my face in my hands so Vlad couldn't see, and let loose. It was like some one had turned on a faucet behind my eyes. I was honestly scared because of how fast the tears had come. It had finally hit me full force. My parents thought I was a monster, they didn't love me anymore. I felt my nose get all stuffy. Pressure behind my nose started to build up. My breathing was starting to become heavy as the fact that my parents wanted to murder me set in. I kept talking, forcing myself to get it all off my chest, just like Jazz had me do whenever I was upset about something, and I was reduced to a quivering mess on her bed. She always said it was better to get it all out; otherwise it would fester and grow into something far worse than what I was already dealing with.

"I was in my room; my mom was trying to get me to come out. Skulker came through the wall and we fought. My parents heard the noise and panicked. They busted down the door to save me. When they saw Phantom not Fenton they demanded to know where their son was. I tried to tell them I didn't know, but they wouldn't believe me. My mom was hysterical Dad threatened to shoot me in the head at point blank range. I didn't know what to do, so I transformed and told them that their son was alright." The images flashed across my minds eye; Mom's shrieks, Dad's yells. It was all still painfully clear. I was out of breath from the explanation and took a second to get a handle on myself. It was hard to breathe with my nose stuffed, and my breath seemed to only go a short ways because when I talked I was crying a little bit too. My breathing became heavy and started to sound nasally as couldn't breath through my nose. I tried to pace my breathing and forged ahead. I had to get this all out now. I don't think I'll ever be able to again.

"I'd never seen anyone as angry as my Dad was right then in my life. They demanded to know where the real Danny was. I didn't know what to tell them. When Dad was about to shoot, Jazz came running up the stairs providing a distraction. I took advantage of it and ran." I was sucking air in and out of my lungs and I never could seem to get enough air. I held my breath to try to contain the sobs that wanted to escape me as I finished. My body shook with the effort as I tried to stop myself from breaking down. I never broke down this badly, I wasn't allowed to. I couldn't _be _weak. I couldn't see clearly anymore, my tears making the world blurry. My hands trembled against my head as I clutched handfuls of my hair and hid my face in my arms. My lungs pleaded for air as I continued to hold my breath. I couldn't allow myself to breathe though. I knew as soon as I did that I wouldn't be able to control myself anymore.

No matter how badly my body cried for air the thoughts of my parents' rage cried louder. The pain in my chest that their words created combine with the very real need for oxygen finally did me in. I greedily sucked in air and breathed out with a pitiful whimper. I lightly coughed and let the tears fall down my face. What sort of sick twisted universe is this? What did I ever do to deserve this? I put all of my faith all of my love into those people and they burned it, reducing it to pitiful ashes, as if to mock me for being so trusting in my own parents.

My breath was ragged and my chest felt like it was on fire. I briefly registered someone turning my chair, but I really didn't care. My whimpers turned into louder moans of agony as I lost awareness of my surroundings. I couldn't really see anyway. My vision was still blocked by the torrent of tears that were pouring out of my eyes. I felt warm, strong arms grab me tightly, as if protecting me. A loud cry of desperation escaped my throat because of the action. I gratefully accepted the support those arms and chest were offering. I felt a weight settle on the top of my head and the feeling of safety and comfort that was being offered in that action made me let out another loud cry of desperation. My breathing became labored and I couldn't stop the sounds of pure agony that escaped my mouth. I reached up and wrapped my arms around the chest I was crying against, desperately clinging to the only thing that was offering me comfort as I was in this world of hurt. I let myself take refuge in the strong hold around me; I let my mind flit over images of what had gone so terrible wrong. I cried shamelessly; not holding anything back. Soon enough there wasn't anything left for me to cry. My breathing steadied as I coughed and wheezed before I ended up hiccupping, I kept my eyes closed. I spoke to myself, not really aware anyone else might be listening. I just needed to admit it one more time before I got myself back together.

"My own par-_hic _parent's didn't _hic _didn't believe me _hic. _They think _hic _think I'm a monster _hic_. They want me de-_hic _dead." There was a silent moment before the arms that had been holding me loosened slightly. I felt soothing circles being rubbed into my tense back. My breathing steadied further as the knots were patiently rubbed away. A few more tears of gratefulness escaped my eyes as the physical hurt was slowly ebbed away. I found myself becoming tired and I was about to let myself start to fall asleep when I was pulled away from the wall of comfort I had been resting against. Fresh air hit my face and I blinked away the tears gaining back some awareness of my surroundings. I realized it was Vlad who was holding me.

Really this day just couldn't get any more screwed up. I felt embarrassment well up inside me. Despite that I really didn't want to shove away the comfort, because without it I'd have nothing. I needed Vlad right now. I wasn't going to lie to myself; he was all I had left. I was going to be selfish, just this once, and let myself be comforted. He handed me his red handkerchief. I took it and sheepishly, and tried to clean myself up a little. Vlad brought my attention back to him.

"Daniel, forgive me, but I still don't understand. Why did you choose to come to me? Why didn't you go to Ms. Manson's or Mr. Foley's-" At Vlad's words I felt anger quickly rise, all of my emotions already close to the surface.

"Don't talk to me about those traitors!" I hiccupped and choked a little on my own tears. I didn't really have any left to cry but I still felt my face get hot with the mention of my two _best friends_. Vlad immediately and forcefully pulled me back into his chest. I was secretly grateful. My face had gotten really cold now that it wasn't buried in his shirt. I went ahead and leaned into him a little bit, letting him hold me up. He pet my head gently and whispered into my ear in a calming tone of voice I didn't know he was capable of. I leaned into him more as my breathing steadied again. I focused on his baritone voice as it rumbled in his chest and let it wash over me.

"Shhhh, it's alright now little badger. Your safe now, no one is going to hurt you here. Of course you would come to stay with me. I'm here to take care of you now Daniel. I'm going to take care of everything, you'll see." I almost believed for a moment that what he said was true. I wanted to believe that Vlad could make everything okay. It would have been easy to believe, because the way he was still rubbing circles on my back and slowly massaging circles on my scalp was doing a great job of making the pain in my chest go away. I knew though, that it was a lie. I was broken and I couldn't be fixed. My heart had been ripped out and there was no way to put it back in. My eyes started to feel heavy again and I shifted on Vlad's chest to get more comfortable. That plan didn't come to pass however as Vlad pulled me away from his chest again.

"Come now Daniel let's get you to your room." Vlad shifted a little again and easily picked me up. A blush rose to my already red cheeks. I felt like a little kid, no one had picked me up like this in a long time. I avoided Vlad's gaze as he carried me wherever he wanted. I didn't really care where we went honestly. I didn't feel like walking, I didn't really care about how pathetic I looked. I was broken; I would never be the same. Every once in a while when I sniffled or coughed Vlad would squeeze me in his arms and a feeling of warmth would shoot through me at the action. Vlad phased us through a door and we came to that same room I had woken up in this morning. Gently he laid me down on top of all the covers. I let myself be set down, though secretly I really didn't want to be. I kicked my shoes off and got underneath all the covers. I faced the window away from where Vlad was standing. I know he had seen me cry and sob already, heck he had carried me up here, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him when I was like this. I heard his muffled footsteps walk towards the door. I rolled over to watch him leave and on impulse I called his name.

"Vlad." He slowly turned around and looked curiously at me.

"Yes little badger?" I didn't know what I was going to say to him when I said his name so I paused for a minute to think of something to say. There was really only one thing I could think of on the spot.

"T-thanks." I tried to smile a little. To show him I really was thankful. He had let me break down on him and had even comforted me when I needed it. He didn't have to do any of that. He could have laughed at me or teased me but he didn't. He took care of me instead. He smiled sadly back at me.

"You're welcome Daniel." With that he closed the door and I heard his footsteps fade away. I let myself sink into the mattress; all of that crying I had done catching up with me. My eyelids got heavy and I didn't resist as I fell asleep in the mansion of my arch nemesis and billionaire, Vladimir Masters.


	7. Chapter 7: It Turns Out Violence is the

AN/: Okay guys I'm gonna tell you right off the bat I am not happy with this chapter. I've been over it a million times and no matter what I do I can't seem to get it right. It's like that kid that refuses to behave. Like a piece of hair you can't get to stay the way you want it. I just wanted to let you know that I really did try. And yes I know it's been a little bit since I updated but you know what, I had exams which I was freaking out about, my grandpa died, and I didn't get too many reviews last chapter so I wasn't feeling too motivated. (I'm not begging you guys to review more. I think it's incredibly annoying when writers beg at the end of every chapter. I'm just saying that the amount of reviews I get tends to be fairly proportional to how fast I update.) All in all I'm not too excited about this chapter. I know you guys kind of were, but I didn't want you to get your hopes up and be sorely disappointed. What can I say I'm depressed, I'm unmotivated, I'm bored and my writing has suffered because of it. What are you gonna do? Go ahead and read the chapter I guess...

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 7: It Turns Out, Violence is the Answer

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, June 11, 2010, 7:10PM_

_Edited: Friday, June 11, 2010, 8:56PM (For atrocious overlooked grammar.)_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:17PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

Jasmine had just hurriedly left in a decrepit rusted old car. I am not sure why she left; she was shouting something about checking to see if Danny was at her dorm. If she left it was of no consequence to me however. Quite the contrary, it would just mean I wouldn't have to overshadow her while I exacted my revenge so she wouldn't remember or stop me from getting it. Because I would be having it, that and so much more. The house, if you really wanted to call it that, was lit brightly from the inside. I could clearly see Jack's silhouette whenever he lumbered in front of a window, as well as Maddie's form whenever she flitted into view. I waited for all of the street lights to turn on and for the moon to be clearly visible in the sky. The atmosphere had to be perfect for a good scare. I wanted to do so much more than make sure they never touched Daniel again, but I could only cause an injury or two. If I did anything too serious Daniel would surely find out and he would be upset with me. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem before but I was the boy's guardian now and I had to consider how my actions would impact him because of the fact. My heart shortly swelled with happiness at the thought.

I flew down to the front porch in my ghost form, and stood calmly at on the small cement square. My ghost signature was suppressed so that I wasn't setting off any of their alarms. I raised my fist and briskly knocked on the door which shook lightly in its hinges, undoubtedly from being broken open so many times. I held my hands regally behind my back, concealing the ecto-blast I had prepared in one hand. Heavy footsteps thundered toward the door; it burst outward as the imbecile Jack Fenton appeared in the doorway with an obnoxiously large ecto gun in tow.

"Ghost!" Before the moron could pull the trigger I ripped the gun from his hands and tossed it lightly behind me in the yard where it exploded rather over dramatically in a small ball of flame. Jack's face was priceless as he stared dumbly at the now scorched section of his front lawn. Clearly he'd not expected that outcome. He came back to his senses long enough to meet my eyes. They widened slightly before they narrowed.

"The Wisconsin Ghost!" I smiled maliciously; my fangs glinted in the light coming from behind Jacks large form. This was going to be too easy.

"Sorry to intrude," Jack was reaching for something located next to the door though I didn't let him get his sausage like fingers on it. I sent an ecto-blast into his gut large enough to remove him from the doorway. I neatly stepped into their house and shut the door behind me, "but I do believe we have some rather pertinent business to attend to." Jack scrambled away from my feet and started screaming.

"Maddie, it's the Wisconsin Ghost! Get the Fenton-"I aimed an ecto-blast at his feet causing him to trip and fall of his face, abruptly cutting him off. I casually strolled to where he laid sprawled on the floor.

"Oh dear, please excuse me. You know those nasty ghost powers, so hard to control." My attention was brought to Maddie at the top of the stairs. She insulted me while she prepared to fire.

"Get your hands off my husband you ectoplasmic scum!" The large ecto-gun whined while it powered up. Maddie had to brace herself while it fired and even then it threw her back slightly. I easily dodged the slow blast and smirked evilly; I couldn't bring myself to hurt her directly though. There was still a part of me that wanted to love her; to forgive her for what she'd done. I only verbally retaliated.

"Look, how endearing, is the ecto gun too big for our dear Madeline?" Maddie growled and slid down the banister as she discarded the heavy weapon and took out her ecto staff. She let out a battle cry as she came towards me clearly intent on taking off my head. My hand quickly snapped up to catch the glowing green end of the staff that was intended for my temple. She stared, visibly baffled as to how I was holding onto the green substance without any pain. I laughed lightly as she tried to pull the staff from my grasp.

"It's the gloves my dear. I was under the impression you had several pairs yourself that allowed you to handle these sorts of things. Now let's get rid of this troublesome little pole shall we?" I tugged the staff out of her hands and whipped it around so that it contacted sharply with Jack's abdomen. He fell to the floor, air absent from his lungs; the sneak attack he had intended a complete failure.

"Jack!" Maddie leapt past me and coddled her husband on the floor before she glared and pulled an ecto gun from her belt ready to fight.

"Stay away from my family!" her gun was barley a threat. Carelessly I aimed a small ecto-blast at it, and it was sent flying from her hands across the room; skidding to a halt under the kitchen table. She clasped her hand to her chest with a hiss of pain.

"How ironic you mention family at a time like this. I was under the impression one of your children, your son, is missing yes?" the sardonic grin never left my face as understanding came over their faces. Jack pulled himself up off of the floor and threw his large form at me.

"Give me back my son spook!" I phased through Jacks body as it came barreling sloppily towards me. The easy dodge allowed me to make two invisible duplicates of myself. I sent them to wait for their cue while I continued my monologue.

"So I see I was correct in my assumptions. What on Earth could have caused young Daniel to run away?" Maddie, in a panic, shouted at me while her eyes darted around the room for a new weapon.

"How do you know about my son? What did you do with him? Where are you keeping him? Are you working with Phantom?" Jack, thinking I was distracted with Maddie, moved to grab an ecto gun that had been sitting on the coffee table. My duplicates appeared and grabbed both of the Ghost Hunters' arms before they could take more than two steps. Their arms were forced behind their backs and held their by my copies. Jack always the slow one, declared the obvious.

"There's three of them!" I rolled my eyes and ignored Jack's comment. My duplicates dragged the couple over to the couch and forced them to sit down. They struggled the entire way. I followed and stood in front of the two. I didn't miss how they both scanned the room for a method of escape or how they looked at each other as if trying to communicate a plan. Maddie cried out in desperation as their knees buckled and they collapsed onto the low purple couch.

"Tell me where my son is!" I gave her a look of mock sympathy.

"Ah you see I would tell you, but I can't. If I did that, you might very well find him, and I can't let that happen now can I?" They both continued to fruitlessly squirm in my duplicates grip. There was no way they were escaping that was clear, though that didn't stop them from trying. Jack growing tired of struggling against the superhuman strength of my clone lashed out.

"If you don't give me my son right now I'll destroy you and that Phantom spook molecule by molecule!" I knew they still thought that Daniel was impersonating himself when they had shot at him, causing him to run to me. But I was sure Jasmine would have convinced them that they were mistaken after he had left. It was a testament to their thick headedness, for I had no doubt Jasmine had_ tried _to convince them, that they still did not believe their son could possibly be half ghost. I raised my eyebrows before replying.

"I see you are both still under the impression that Phantom and Daniel are separate people? He demonstrated to you, didn't he, that they are one in the same. So, why do you still cling to the notion that they are separate?" Maddie huffed, frustrated, blowing a stand of hair out of her face. There was something irritated in her eyes, like she had had this conversation before and was very accustom to arguing her point.

"That's impossible; something can't be dead and alive, or human and ghost. It's just insane! Our human body wouldn't be able withstand the strain of all the raw energy. It would kill us instantly." It was almost ironic; that the people who created two half ghosts did not believe themselves that they could exist. I pinched the bridge of my nose; it was like talking to small children who were convinced that Santa Clause still existed. Come to think of it Jack _did _still believe Santa Clause existed.

"Let's say that, for a moment, a person was suddenly hit with enough ectoplasmic energy to kill them. Is it possible that the energy that was causing their death could in fact integrate itself into their DNA and at the exact same moment prevent them from dying? The result would be that the victim would be stuck in some sort of half dead state, half of them would remain human and alive, but the energy that was keeping them alive would need a place to manifest, generating a 'ghost half' if you will. Effectively turning said human half ghost. It is possible my dear Madeline, and it is in fact what happened to your son." They both stared at me in disbelief trying to find excuses for why my theory couldn't possibly be true. Jasmine may have tried her best but she had no understanding of how the science of the situation would have worked, and could not explain how the event would be scientifically possible. Even if they studied ghosts, Jack and Maddie were indeed scientists and would not be swayed by any ethos or pathos persuasion. They needed to hear the scientific or theoretical side of the situation to consider it a valid option. Finally Maddie stuttered back to life.

"Even if it were achievable our son can't possibly be half ghost. Danny would have told us if something like that had happened to him. We're his parents and he trusts us!" She seemed to think she had played the trump card. I scoffed at her petty assumption. Clearly she had never been burdened with a secret of such magnitude in her life or she would not have assumed the familial bond was so strong. Once again I had to remind myself that the people before me were indeed my age; and yet they still held such primitive views of the world. Daniel had a more developed sense of how the world really worked, and he had all those damned morals.

"Why exactly would he tell you, hm? Would it be because you are ghost hunters and he feared your rejection; because you only spoke of his ghost persona when accompanied with threats of death and annihilation? Or perhaps he would feel safe telling you after you had shot, trapped, and hunted him enough times that he was accustom to the attacks? Do you think he felt like telling you after you refused to see the good he was doing for the city, even when it was right in front of your faces? I am sure he felt like revealing he was in fact half ghost when his very parents had sworn to him many times over that all ghosts were evil and did not deserve to exist. Yes you are right; it's pure blasphemy to think he would keep something like this from you." They were silent for a moment; as they took in all that they I had said, obviously still searching for a way to prove that they would never treat their son in such a way. Jack at last spoke up, seeming to have thought he had found something to disprove what I had said.

"But we would never hurt-" I shot a hot ectoplasmic blast past his head and cut off his sentence. They would never hurt him? I was showing them the truth, screaming it in their faces and they still would not admit the crimes they had committed? They still helplessly clung to the notion that they were good parents, that there was no possible way for them to have been wrong. It was clear also that Maddie held the belief that she had not harmed Daniel in any way. She scooted, as much as she could while being held captive, toward her husband in support. I found myself disgusted with the woman's stupidity, with her sheer ignorance. She had stooped to a level I thought was only obtainable by Jack himself. My eyes burned a blood red with rage. My voice rose with my anger and my words were laced with venom. They would hear the truth and they were going to believe it by the time I was done.

"You would never hurt him you say? Well then perhaps you wouldn't mind explaining to me why you attempted to shoot him at point blank range after he had shown you his secret? Why you believed you were justified in corning your own son and denouncing him from your family after he had just revealed his darkest secret to you! One fact remains true through all of this, and that is that you both do not deserve to call Daniel your son after your display of pure ignorance and prejudice!" Maddie clearly thought they were being accused unjustly. She shouted back at me.

"We do deserve Danny! We can help him! We could have gotten rid of his-" The floor beneath my feet ignited in red flames. Oh I knew what she was about to say and I would not stand for it. Not even from her. Pits of hate started to form for the woman on the couch; partly because of her accusations of Daniel, and partly because she had confirmed that she could never fully love me either.

"DO NOT; say that you could fix him! Like he has a disease that needs curing! Like he is somehow tainted and wrong! You cannot change who he is! HE IS HALF GHOST! He is perfect because of the fact and you can never change that! NEVER! Your sick obsession prevents you from seeing that he is happy the way he is! You are so prejudiced that you cannot accept who your own son really is and you never will truly be able to either! You can NEVER have him as a son, you will NEVER love him the way I do, because you are incapable of seeing past your sick notions that everything that is made of ectoplasm is evil! That because he's half ghost, half of him doesn't deserve to be LOVED!" My aura flared a dangerous red and sent a wave of energy throughout the room that left any loose leaf paper in a pile of ash. My fists were incased with red energy that crackled with electricity. The electric pulses I gave off blew all the light bulbs out, though none of us noticed, as I gave off enough light to compensate. I was standing in a puddle of red flames that was quickly expanding with my anger. In my rage I had lost my concentration over my duplicates. It didn't matter though, for the two hunters were stationary; staring in awe at the power that radiated off of me. Though however distracting my display of power might have been, nothing could take away from the parents attention to what I had said about their son. Maddie held tightly onto Jacks large arm supporting whatever he was about to say. Jack clenched his jaw in anger before he shouted back.

"You will never be able to love Danny as much as we do! You can't even love your just a GHOST!" the two hunters on the couch recoiled as I screamed in rage and the flames that were hovering around waist height shot up to lick the ceiling. Half of me wanted to laugh hysterically at what the imbecile had just said, and half wanted to rip off his limbs one by one until he was nothing but a bloody pile of flesh. I grabbed them both by the fronts of their jumpsuits and pinned them against the wall. I held them there to give them this last message before they said goodbye to their final moments of consciousness.

"But you forget yet again that your son is half ghost. That when you insult me you only insult what he is as well. You will never have your son back. The moment you threatened him you solidified that fact. I swear if you ever again even lay a finger on him I will make sure that you do not survive to see another day. If you so much as touch a hair on his head I will make you beg for death, and only after you believe that you couldn't possibly be in more agony, might I decide end your pitiful existance." Immediately after I was finished I let the torrent of energy that was begging to be released pour out of my hands. The two ghost hunters flailed like fish as I sent kilowatts through their system. Only after every gadget in their pathetic belts had shorted, did I let them go.

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I mindlessly flipped through yet another stack of papers that looked promising. I was surprised the police or the fire department hadn't come to the house yet to see what all the noise and the lights had been about. But I suppose their neighbors would be used to such things and wouldn't think anything of the occurrence. I perked up when I came across the small blue card I had been looking for. Within seconds it was nothing but a small pile of ashes on the floor adding to the ones already there. It had been Daniel's social security card. Other official documents had already met a similar fate. His birth certificate, his permit, his _second _permit, his school registration forms, his medical records, his insurance information, it and others were all now piles of ash on the floor. The two idiots still lay unconscious on the floor where I had left them. It had only been forty five minutes since they had been out. I supposed this process could have gone faster if I woke one of them up to tell me where all the records that proved Daniel existed were, but I hardly believed either of them would be compliant. I sighed and let the rest of the papers in my hands fall to the floor. I still needed to find Daniel's license, though I was sure it was most likely in his room somewhere. It was the last thing I could think of that I needed to destroy before I made my way back to my mansion. I would have Technus and Skulker infultrate the school's and the government's records to delete what they had about Daniel. I only needed to worry about what was in this house at the moment. I phased through the ceiling and into Daniels room. My anger ignited as I saw what state exactly, the room was in.

It was nothing short of a disaster zone. Scorch marks were everywhere there was not a single piece of furniture left intact. Things were strewn about the room as if someone had already searched and emptied every corner. My aura flared slightly with disgust. I was positive I was letting those savages get away with much too light a punishment. I tried to calm myself as I sifted through the piles of discarded papers, old food wrappers, cans and bottles, and dirty clothes. Finally, I spotted his wallet on the bed.

I picked up the frail piece of black leather. It was barely holding itself together. In fact it wasn't, duct tape was. There was exactly one dollar bill three pennies and two nickels in the entire thing. That was all of Daniel's spending money? They let him go out of the house with this little cash on him? What did they expect him to be able to do with this kind of money, buy a gum wrapper! I threw the money to the floor in repulsion. Daniel would be enjoying far more than this petty amount.

I pulled a worn laminated library card out of the delicate folds of the wallet. There was a scribble that somewhat resembled a name written on a black line along the bottom; undoubtedly from when Daniel had signed it while he was little. I didn't hesitate to melt the plastic in my hand. His school ID wasn't far behind. Red and white was the main color scheme of the card and in the upper right hand corner was a rather hilarious picture of Daniel. He was smiling like he was mentally insane. Finally what I had been looking for, his driver's license, made it to the surface. I raised an amused eyebrow at the picture on this particular card. His mouth was open as if he were gasping; he had a worried look on his face and if one looked closely they could see the traces of a faint puff of cold air. I smiled deviously as I realized what the picture implied. That had to have been one interesting experience. The piece of plastic none the less, was soon reduced to a glob of quickly hardening goop in my hand and I was ready to be on my way.

I dropped the useless wallet to the floor. I was extremely tired. It was already late and I had to go to work tomorrow. I stretched briefly and turned to leave when something rather intriguing caught my eye.

There on the floor by his computer was a black book, but what had really peaked my interest was the insignia embossed on the cover. Eyes laughing at the irony, I went to investigate further. It was about the size of a standard novel roughly an inch thick. The hard cover was midnight black and covering most of it was Daniel's ghost insignia. It wasn't white like it was on his jumpsuit, but the exact same color and texture as the background on which it was set. The only reason a person would know it was there was because of the slight shadows it cast due to it being slightly raised. I opened the front cover curious as to what the book was about. On the inside of the cover, instead of the copyright information like there would be in any other book, there was a note written in purple ink. I read the loopy and uniform writing.

_-Dear Danny,_

_I know you think diaries are for girls but just hear me out. As an aspiring psychologist I have scientific proof that keeping a daily journal can help with stress relief. Don't you dare say that you aren't stressed because we both know you are! Would you at least try to write in it? It doesn't even have to be every day. You just write something down whenever you feel like you can't talk to anyone else or you need something off your chest. I even promise not to read it! Just for a little bit, I really think you could benefit from this Danny. Just give it a try. Oh and the cover is just to spite you. Be grateful I didn't get the purple and pink one with the foe fur that was sitting right next to it. Have a happy fifteenth birthday Danny!_

_-sincerely, Jazz_

My eyes stared disbelievingly at the note. Almost nervously I picked up the thick of the pages and flicked through them. On every single page there was writing. Red, purple, blue, and black ink, pencil, and marker, words had been written on every available page. I abruptly snapped the book shut. Suddenly it didn't matter how late it was; I could sleep when I was completely dead. I had some reading to do.


	8. Chapter 8 Vlad is Everywhere

AN/: well guys I was detirmined to get this one out to you today and here it is. Okay, i really spent the majority of the day working on the next chapter but i figured I had to post this one before that one becasue I would like to keep it in a relatively chronological order. Mabey when I'm finished with the story and I go through to do my "i've finnished the story and now i have to fix all the weird grammar crap my reviewers and myself have pointed out" I'll switch chapter 7 with chapter 8 but unill then you are going to be satisfied with this. Thank you to all who reviewed last chpater. It kept me a little happier in a time in my life when I wasn't so happy. I cranked this chapter out in the last couple of hours so bare with me. I do think it's easier to write Sam and Tucker, just becasue they don't deal with anything that I haven't and are my age. whatever. If you guys don't like the chapter, think it needs more work let me know I will not be offended. However i myself am satisfied with it. Honestly it's one of those chapters that are just kind of moving things along. Okay well that's all i have to say about this one. Enjoy!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 8: Vlad is Everywhere

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 10:49PM_

_Edited: Monday, July 5, 2010, 9:59PM (because the characterization was off and i needed to switch who said what)_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:18 PM_

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**IMPORTANT: **If you did not read the authours note you need to know that this chapter is slightly out of chronological order. This chapter takes place after Danny has woken up in Vlad's mansion but before Vlad has gone to 'talk' to Jack and Maddie. You can't say you were thrown off by the time it took place now because I warned you. Okay please continue.

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**Sam's POV**

I walked out the front doors of the school shooting glares at anyone who whispered as I went by. It hadn't taken long for the information to get around; though I wasn't sure who exactly spread that me and Tucker had kissed. I had heard a lot of variations of what actually happened. It ranged from us having been simply talking, to us having been caught having sex. Yeah leave it to the high school cheerleaders to crank out those really amusing ones.

None of that really mattered to me though. I was worried about Danny. He hadn't been in school today. I was scared at first but Tucker said that Danny would need a day to recover. I supposed he was right. That hadn't stopped me and Tucker from calling whenever we got the chance though. Finally we couldn't leave any more voice mails or text messages because Danny's phone had run out of memory.

I felt like shit, and there wasn't a lighter way to put it. I didn't know what to think about what happened between me and Tucker. We'd been seen in the school together today obviously, but we weren't doing anything! We were just talking, but of course everyone blew things out of proportion. They said we were getting together and we didn't care about Danny. His absence today didn't go unnoticed either.

We did care about Danny though, that was all that we had been doing all day; sending texts and voice-mails. We even tried to call Jazz, but she wasn't picking up either. I was worried out of my mind, and so was Tucker. He hadn't made one derogatory comment about girls all day!

I walked down the steps towards where Tucker was waiting for me under the big tree. He started talking when I was within earshot.

"So, are we still going with what we planned at lunch?" Tucker took his hands out of his pockets and picked his backpack up off the ground. While I waited for him to get his stuff I responded.

"Yes, I don't like him staying away from us Tucker. He needs to listen to us and hear our side of the story. I'm worried he might do something." Tucker nodded as we walked along in the light breeze. We were silent for a moment before Tucker spoke up.

"I don't know if Danny is going to want to be friends with us anymore Sam." I hung my head and looked away before I responded. My eyes were getting hot again; I knew that was a very real possibility.

"I know Tucker, but we have to try. He's going to think we don't care if we don't do something. I want him to at least hear our side of the story. We just have to try Tuck." Tucker nodded solemnly.

"I know Sam I think we should too. It's just," Tucker shuffled a couple of steps, "I want you to be prepared. Danny is going to be really hurt Sam, and I don't want you to go in thinking we're all going to come out holding hands and running through fields of daisies." I didn't say anything to respond. He was just looking out for me, like he did most of the time.

We rounded a corner and waited for the stoplight at the opposite side of the street to turn into the little picture of a man walking. Eventually traffic stopped so we could cross. We made our way across the street and closer to Danny's house. The giant structure loomed in the distance and the weight seemed to press down on us as we got closer.

Sooner rather than later we were standing at the bottom of the small concrete steps that led up to Danny's front door. We booth stopped; neither of us moved to go up the steps. I looked over at Tucker; he had taken off his beret and was fiddling with it nervously in his hands.

"Tucker we have to do this, for Danny." Tucker stopped playing with his hat and looked back up at me. He searched my face for a moment and nodded. Sighing, he put his hat back on. We walked up the stairs at the same time so neither of us would have to be first. I took a shaky breath and knocked feebly on the front door. It immediately burst open.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY GHOST!" Both me and Tucker were instantly covered in green goop that glowed slightly. I was put on edge by the occurrence. Though me and Tucker were more than used to being assaulted at the door there was something in Mr. Fenton's voice that sounded off. Something that was definitely wrong. As Mr. Fenton brought his gun down we were broadsided with something other than familiar green goop.

"Sam, Tucker! Have you seen Danny! Please tell me you've seen my baby!" Mrs. Fenton was hysterical and clutched onto the fronts of our shirts holding us so that only the tips of our shoes brushed the ground. Tucker stuttered nervously to life.

"I-I'm sorry Mrs. Fenton we haven't seen Danny all day. We were actually coming over to check on him. He hasn't answered any of our calls." Mrs. Fenton looked searchingly between me and Tucker as if to determine if we were telling the truth. When she seemed confidant that we weren't lying she abruptly let us go, and we stumbled back into supporting our own weight. She disappeared from view as she ran back into the house, her arms covering her face. Before me or Tucker could do or say anything another voice met our ears.

"What the heck is going on? Oh my gosh Sam, Tucker," Jazz sprinted down the stairs and expertly maneuvered around her dad's large form. She latched onto our arms and dragged us inside behind her, "Come on guys, get up to my room quick, before my parents try to murder two more innocent teenagers!" She screamed the last part at her Dad who still remained in the doorway. We were only half way up the stairs so we caught what Mr. Fenton said in response.

"That monster was not our son Jasmine and you know that. We would never shoot at our own son! He was an imposter and you know it!" We were disappearing around the corner at the top of the stairs. Jazz's face got red at her dad's words. She stopped and let go of us, as she shouted back down the stairs to her Dad.

"No you're just so thick headed that you can't accept the truth! You shot at Danny even after you knew and I'm never going to forgive you EVER!" At that Jazz abruptly shoved us into her room and slammed the door so that the shelves and their contents trembled. Me and Tucker stared shocked at Jazz as she breathed heavily. The rage melted from her face as she looked between the two of us; left in its place was complete and utter sadness. A tear escaped her eye and I snapped into action. I walked her over to her bed and sat her down. She cried a little harder and reached for her stuffed bear. Tucker handed it to her before she could get to it. I asked the question anyone in my situation would.

"Jazz, what's wrong? Where's Danny?" She looked at me her eyes shining, and sucked in a breath before she explained.

"I-I don't know where Danny is. They found out Sam, they found out yesterday after school. He wouldn't come out of his room so I got mom and dad to try to coax him out. We heard crashing from the inside and they freaked out. They busted down the door and got Danny, as Phantom, in a corner. They threatened to k-kill him!" Tucker, for once in his life, took his cue and handed Jazz the box of Kleenexes on her night stand. Jazz blew her nose loudly, as it was one of the traits she had inherited form her dad, and composed herself now that she was able to breathe properly. Me and Tucker both could put the pieces together from there, but we still couldn't quite believe it. Tucker looked pale and asked what we both didn't want to.

"What happened to Danny?" She shuttered in another breath before she continued.

"H-he changed; it was his only way out. They were silent for a moment, and that's when I knew they weren't going to except him. I ran as fast as I could to go turn off the ghost-proof walls in the lab. I shouted for him to run and when I made it back up to his room Dad was leaning out the window shooting at something in the sky. He didn't take his cell phone or any Fenton phones, I assumed he'd flown to your guys' houses and he would send you when he could to tell me he was okay." Jazz looked hopefully up at me and Tucker. We exchanged worried glances. Tucker, in the same soft voice he had used with me in the janitors closet, address Jazz.

"Jazz Danny didn't come to either of our houses last night. We don't know where he is either. He didn't send us here." Jazz stopped breathing for a moment before she started to inhale in staggered breaths. For a long moment we sat there like that. Tucker handed Jazz a Kleenex when she looked like she needed it, and I hugged Jazz's shoulders.

Me and Tucker shot each other worried glances when Jazz wasn't looking. We were just as worried about Danny as Jazz but we had to hold it together right now for her. Once Jazz could breathe we would talk about a plan. Right now we needed to comfort Danny's sister. Suddenly Jazz asked a question.

"W-why didn't h-he go to your houses'?" The air in the room got awkward and uncomfortable. Jazz noticed and sat up a little straighter looking curiously between the two of us. Tucker and I both looked at anything but Jazz. I tried to bring the news down slowly so Jazz wouldn't freak out.

"Well you see, in school yesterday I got really upset, and-"

"Danny saw me and Sam kissing in a janitor's closet." Tucker interrupted me. I shot him a glare as Jazz froze under my grip. She looked hard at me and then at Tucker. The blushes that rose to both of our cheeks gave us away. She seemed a little angry.

"You two were going out and you hid it from Danny?" Tucker and I were both shocked for a moment before we both quickly tried to correct her.

"No it wasn't like that it was just-

"Danny walked in and Sam was crying and-

Me and tucker stopped talking when we realized we were shouting over each other and weren't making any sense. There was a pause as Jazz looked skeptically between the two of us. Tucker sighed and pulled his hat off of his head.

"I don't know how it happened Jazz. It wasn't intentional or anything. It just kinda happened. I don't know what else to tell you." Tucker looked broken and depressed. He was ashamed of himself and what he'd done to his friend. I would bet I didn't look too different form him. My insides were twisting like a boa constrictor, waiting for what Jazz would say.

"Well that explains why he wouldn't come out of his room, and why he wouldn't go to either of your houses'. Though we are not done talking about this, we need to figure out where Danny went first. You both can help me think of ideas." I felt a little weight lift off of me with Jazz's reaction. She was mad but she wasn't going to bite our heads off. Tucker in true techno-geek fashion pulled out his PDA and typed around on it for a minute before showing us what he was doing.

"See this red circle? At Danny's top speed this is how far he could've made it in any one direction without stopping. This could give us a good idea of where he could be or how far he could've gone." Me and Jazz paled at the picture. The area that circle covered was huge. It covered all of Illinois and expanded into the surrounding states. Jazz nodded slowly.

"That's a good back up, but there has got to be a better way to figure out where Danny is. Who would he go to if he needed a place to stay?" We all thought for a moment in silence. Finally, Tucker voiced an idea he had come up with.

"Well, do you think he would go to Valarie? Next to me and Sam she's the next person he would trust." I shook my head.

"He can't have. Valarie might have accepted Danny when he needed a place to stay, but her Dad would ask questions. Danny would have been taken to the police and brought back here by now if he had gone there. Is there any way he went though the portal?" I looked to Jazz.

"I guess it's possible but it's unlikely. Danny flew off into the distance at a pretty fast rate. The only chance he would've had to have gotten into the Ghost Zone would've been when I turned off the shield. They've been on at full power since Danny left. He would've set an alarm off if he tried to get back in." We were silent once more as we failed to come up with any other alternatives.

Me and Tucker didn't stay when Mrs. Fenton said it was time for dinner and headed home. The sun was setting in the sky painting it all sorts of reds and oranges. We had gone through Danny's stuff, trying to find a clue as to where he might have gone. We found his diary but we didn't read it. We wouldn't do that to Danny; especially after what we had already done to him. I lay in my spider bed and stared at the ceiling. How could this all have gone so horribly wrong so quickly? Why was everything so screwed up? I rolled over in my bed and tried to go to sleep. It was two in the morning and I needed to get a little sleep before I got to school tomorrow.

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**Jazz's POV**

I slammed the car door shut and drove out of the driveway. I had all of my savings in my purse and I was not planning on coming back to this place in a long long time. I couldn't be in the same room as those people anymore. I knew they were obsessed with ghosts, but they refused to see the truth and they wanted to believe that Danny was some sort of monster because of it. When I found an excuse to leave I jumped on it like a rabid wolf. I was going to go check to see if Danny was at my dorm.

My spirits rose a little because there was a very real possibility he was there, and I was away from my parents who were not the most pleasant company at the moment. I hit the accelerator as I merged onto the highway. My nerves settled down as I drove on. Driving always seemed to do that to me.

Things had been going smoothly for a good hour. I was coming up on a truck that was going way under the speed limit. I had set my cruise control already and I really did not want to deal with this, as benign as it was. I was just not in the mood to be merging around trucks. I looked over my shoulder before I merged into the left lane; slowly passing the truck. I was going to look over and give the truck driver a good glare when I saw it. There on the door written in big black letters that were outlined in white was one four letter word. DALV.

My breath hitched and my mind raced. Why hadn't I thought of him before? I was so stupid. Vlad would know where Danny was. He spied on my family constantly! He had to have some sort of sensor or ghost following him or something. Vlad had to know where my little brother was.

My focus snapped back to the road as I hit the rumble strip. I let my heart rate slow before I tried to ponder on anything else. I merged in front of the truck and brought my focus back to the road. After a couple of minutes I let my mind wander slightly once again.

Vlad would know where Danny was, he was probably already scheming to bring him to his mansion so he could turn him into his little apprentice. I was tempted to take the next exit and head towards Vlad's mansion that very moment but I didn't. Danny might still be at my dorm. It was very possible he would go there and hide invisibly until I got back. It was one of the places I thought he would think to go.

I decided I would go back to my dorm first and make sure that Danny wasn't there before I went to the fruitloop. It would give me a chance to get my things together and let my professors know that I would be gone a couple more days too. They wouldn't mind me missing a few more days. I was acing all of my classes.

I had trouble keeping a triumphant smirk off of my face. I had a plan; I wasn't just searching in the dark anymore. One way or another I was going to find out where my brother was. I was confident as the moon rose before me into the sky.

"I said I'd find you little brother, and that is exactly what I'm going to do; if it takes me till my dying day."


	9. Chapter 9: It's Only a Flesh Wound!

AN/: Alright guys I couldn't think of anything else that I wanted to include in this chapter and I think this is as good as it's gonna get. I'm pretty proud of it. I left a couple of grammar things unfixed in the diary entries because they are just that, diary entries. No one writes the first time with perfect gramar. Well at least most of us don't. Hopefully it is up to your guys' expectations. I'm over here crossing my fingers. Just to clear this up, none of these diary entries would fit on one page of a dairy. Vlad does flip the page a couple of times before he reaches the end of any of these entries. I just didn't want to break to say that he flipped a page. That would be stupid. If i get more than ten reviews for this chapter, I'll write a short story of dairy entry number 9. You'll know what i mean when you get there. Let me know if you think Vlad figures too much out on his own. That's my main concern for this chapter, so all of you people who read criticaly, drop me a line if you find any faults. I will be golfing and snorkeling ( shut up i know i spelled that wrong) tomorrow so I probably wont even get to start on the next chapter untill Monday/ Tuesday-ish. you guys all rock. I cherish every review I get and I reread them several times to keep me motivated. You guys are too nice to me!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 9: It's Only a Flesh Wound!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:30AM_

_Edited: Monday, July 5, 2010, 10:04PM (for grammar and words that had been mushed together)_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:19PM_

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**SEMI-IMPORTANT:**Just as a heads up anything italicized is what danny has written. The entries will also be separate from Vlad's reactions by line breaks. this is only semi important becasue you most likely could have figured that out on your own but i thought i'd give you a heads up anyway. Oh and these Diary entries don't have numbers or dates. Honesly I didn't want to take the time to figure that crap out, and Danny doesn't really seem like the kind of guy who would take the time to do that sort of crap anyway.

* * *

**Vlad's POV**

I made myself some black coffee. I would need the extra energy to pull off this all-nighter. I was not twenty anymore. I stared at the book I had laid closed on the counter and studied it's every feature; every dip and divot, every scuff and scrape. I found it slightly ironic that the book that contained al of Daniel's secrets was black. The coffee machine beeped and I impatiently poured myself a generous mug of the hot liquid. I took the book from the counter and made my way through the halls to my private study. Tenderly, I carried the book in my hand and went to sit on my favorite chair by the fire. My feet rested on a small footrest, and I rested my elbows on the arm rests. I settled down like I had done so many times to read, though this time it was so much more significant. I wasn't just reading some biography where things were skewed and it was filled with nothing but half truths; this was no fictional novel where I could brush off anything I disagreed with as nonexistent. This was the doorway to the doubts and uncertainties of the only person who I cared about. I knew there would very well be things about me in here. I had caused him a lot of trouble; I made sure of it. I knew I might not like what I saw, but I had to do it. I had to read this. I could not just have left something like this behind. I was an opportunistic man and this was an opportunity I would have traded my entire Packers collection _and _the team for. Taking a small sip of my coffee, I set the mug down on the small table beside me. I opened the front cover. It flopped open like a very heavily used library book. I skipped past the note Jasmine had written and turned to the first page.

* * *

_Okay so the only reason I'm writing in this is because I have to use this gift at least once. I mean that's what I do with most of my gifts, I use them once to show the person who got it for me that I appreciate it and then never touch it again. So yes Jazz, if you are reading this right now, because I know you're going to steal it eventually, I appreciate the thought, but I probably will never use this again. Sorry but diaries aren't for me. I never really liked school why would I do it more than necessary?_

* * *

I thought the first entry was rather expected, it was most like Daniel. The entry was slightly amusing as I could very well picture Daniel exasperatedly making the effort to use a gift he did not want. Though I also found it entertaining because he had obviously gone back on his resolution. He had left the remainder of that first page blank so I flipped to the next one.

* * *

_I know I said I would never use this, well it turns out I'm a liar. I just need to tell someone about this. I don't want to carry it around by myself anymore. So here you go little book you get to listen to me rant._

_I don't really know who I am anymore. Really I don't. I feel like I'm constantly switching personalities. One minute I'll be the shy pathetic little loser that Dash beats up every day, and the next I'll be the over confident cocky ghost who saves this town on a regular basis. That isn't even really the half of it. I have to be the sheepish apologetic son when I get home every night after curfew. I have to be the friend who looks like they have it all under control. I have to be the brother who convinces their sister that their mentally stable and that they are not cracking under the pressure. I have to appear incredibly stupid to everyone to explain my horrible grades. I have to appear weak and useless in gym so that people don't get suspicious when I don't defend myself against Dash. I live my life as one giant charade. I'm never really completely myself. Not really. The closest I get is probably around Sam and Tuck, but even then I don't let them know about how stressed I really am. They would just get in the way and I don't want to put them under that pressure. I can't be open with my parents for obvious reasons, and my sister is out because she would have me under constant analysis for mental stability if she knew anything._

_But that's why you're here little book. Maybe I can find my real self again if I use this thing. Because really I don't know who I am anymore. I constantly lie to the ones I love and yet I claim to be a superhero with virtues and morals. How exactly is that supposed to work? I don't really have dreams to shoot for anymore. You know how they say 'shoot for the moon and if you miss you'll land among the stars'? Yeah okay well I missed the moon and all I landed next to was a black hole._

_Becoming an astronaut is out since my grades are in the toilet and there is no way I would pass all of the blood tests they could throw at me. I don't know where my life is going. It seems like I get up every day to do the same thing. I lie to my parents, eat breakfast if a ghost hasn't attacked, go to school and get bad grades, fight ghosts, hang out with Sam and Tuck to relive some stress, go home and lie some more before I sleep in between fighting ghosts._

_What am I living for anymore? I don't really have a purpose for myself. I fight ghosts for the town not because I've wanted to do it all my life. I mean yeah it gives me something to strive for, it gives me a purpose, but it's not one that I chose or that I want to take over my entire life. I feel like a puppet, like I'm doing everything for everyone else. What about what I want to do with the rest of my life?_

_It was a given that I was going to college before, but what about now? I don't think I could get into a college with my grades, and what would happen to the town while I was away? I just really don't know anymore. I'm empty on the inside. I have no hopes or dreams to shoot for. I live one day at a time. It seems the only reason I exist anymore is to stop ghosts from overrunning the town. I've become a public servant in every aspect of the word. When did my needs stop mattering? When did I let my life get away from me?_

* * *

I felt angry at nothing in particular. I couldn't understand why Daniel would hold himself to his heroics if it caused him so much trouble. Though I suppose it is as the boy said, he is, or was, so far into it before he started to reconsider his decision that he had no other path to take. There was nothing else to give him a purpose, something to work for. The boy is more like me than he knows, unfortunately; to have met my fate, and at such a young age. I knew all too well what the boy was talking about. Switching form one person to the next like you could just change your outfit, like it was no big deal. Waking up every day with nothing to look forward to like some sick mantra the universe has conjured for its own amusement.

I lit with hope slightly as I realized I could change things for the boy. I could help him and he wouldn't even have to know it. Things were going to change for him if I had anything to say about it. Daniel was mine now and I could revolutionize his world for him. I relaxed my grip on the book as I realized I had been grabbing it too tightly. I sighed and rubbed my eyes flipping to the next page.

* * *

_I'm so tired, I'm not tired. I've tried and I cannot make myself fall asleep, even though I desperately want to. Does that make sense? I've been at this level of tired many many times before. It's only just occurring to me now, that I'm insanely bored, that I could write about it. It's currently 2:03 in the morning and I haven't had any sleep in the past two days. Ghosts have been attacking constantly. I lost count of how many; I stopped counting when it got to over thirty._

_I feel like all the ghosts have designated me as their personal punching bag. Have you ever been declared a personal punching bag? Okay well I've been assigned as Dash's official punching bag but that's beside the point. At least Dash gives me a break every once in a while. These ghosts have just not been letting up. It's getting harder to make up good excuses, and I need some time to heal from my injuries or I'm going to suffer from some permanent damage._

_Let's see I have a broken leg, two broken ribs, a gash over my left eye, my ankle is twisted, my kneecap snapped out of place, I think I got whip-lash form getting thrown into a wall earlier. And that's just all the major stuff, I'm not going to go through all the little cuts and scrapes that I have, we'd be here all night if I did that. Although there is this bruise on my shoulder that turned this kind of weird orange color, I've never seen that in a bruise before. I'm just hoping it goes away soon._

_At least my skull isn't cracked, I hate having to explain blood in my hair. Do you know how hard it is to explain something like that? Yeah it isn't too easy, and showers kill for the next couple of days after that. Gotta go ghost sense just went off._

* * *

I had to focus for a long minute on preventing myself from getting out of my chair and rushing up to the boy's room to make sure all of his limbs were still attached. He spoke so casually about the whole thing. If I was honest with myself I would say that the whole thing made me nauseous. I know having ghost powers gives you faster healing abilities but this was insane. Just because we heal faster does not make getting hurt any less painful. How had he managed to hide this from his parents for so long? Either Jack and Maddie were bigger idiots than I took them for or Daniel was as good a liar as me. Perhaps it was some of both. That didn't excuse the condition Daniel described he was in. He shouldn't have been conscious let alone able to write about anything! And even after he was as badly injured as he was, he went to fight another ghost? Was the boy mentally ill! Did he think nothing of his own well being? Did he think pain was only an unfortunate consequence that he could disregard and simply push aside? This would have to change as well. I would have to do it so that it wouldn't look suspicious but I would be giving the boy a good look over in the very near future. I ran my hand through my hair, now positive I was not going to be leaving this chair reassured of the boy's condition. I turned to the next page.

* * *

_I wish my parent's freaked out more. At least then I would know that they still cared I existed. I know that sounds sketchy, but it's true. They just don't pay attention like they used to. Today I walked in with a huge bandage over my right forearm and neither of them did anything. Granted they didn't see it because they were absorbed in their work, but still. I dunno I feel really alone in the house now that Jazz is gone at college. We don't eat dinner at the table like we used to. I never see them anymore and they spend most of their time in the lab inventing things to capture my ghost half with. They never do anything with me anymore either. Even if I don't have the time, the thought that they wanted to spend time with me would have been nice. I don't know they don't really pay attention to the good things I do anymore. If I wash the dishes nobody acknowledges it or says thank you or that I did a good job. The only time I get recognized for anything I do is when I do something bad, like come home late or send too many texts._

_I feel like I'm only a nuisance to them. I just feel down about it. I know I'm growing up and getting older and that means that I should be able to take care of myself, but my parents should still tell me they love me every once in a while right? They should still have time for that. I don't know maybe I'm just being a big baby about it. Maybe I should just suck it up and deal with it. I mean I'm going to have to live without them by my side every day at some point, so why should it bother me now? I just don't know what to think. All I know is that they really don't talk to me as much. What else am I supposed to do about it?_

* * *

The only thing that prevented the book form turning to a pile of ash on the floor was the fact that I realized I was unconsciously channeling energy into it when I smelled the light wisps' of smoke. I dropped the book to the ground to prevent myself from harming it anymore. Regardless of how much the contents may have disgusted me I did want to read it and I still had much more to read. It took all of my self-restraint to prevent myself form teleporting back to that absurd building those incompetent fools insisted on calling a home and taking care of them for good. I waited for my hands to cool down and took a breather.

That was all in the past. They couldn't do anything to Daniel now. He was here in my mansion and he was in my care. He was mine and he would never be treated in such a way again, I would make sure of it. I picked up the book which had landed closed on the floor. I flipped to where I had left off and started to read once again.

* * *

_I went to Clockwork's today. He was very specific about what I couldn't write down so I'll just steer clear of those subjects. He said I couldn't tell anyone what we talked about either, so I'm writing about it instead._

_I feel like the world has been lifted off of my shoulders. Clockwork is amazing at knowing exactly what to say; well then again he does know everything. We didn't do a lot really. He had some cookies from the fifties ready for me. I was skeptical about eating them; I mean to me they were fifty years old. But Clockwork said that they were okay to eat because of some of that time mumbo jumbo that I really don't understand. He told me that I got a 63% on this history quiz I was worried about. That was nice to know; I didn't have to wait until tomorrow to find out. I was pretty happy about it. I passed and that's what counts. All that I really hope for anymore is to pass; I'm not really in class enough to shoot for anything else._

_We watched some moments from the past that were pretty funny. Did you know that when George Washington was learning to ride a horse he fell off like fifty times before he finally got it! It was freaking hilarious! I haven't had a laugh that hard in a long time._

_Besides all that though Clockwork said I was doing a good job and not to give up. I cannot put into words how that made me feel. The Master of Time said I was doing a good job. The guy doesn't hand out compliments left and right they are extremely rare. He said not to give up too, and I won't. Now that I know he believes in me, I know I'm doing the right thing. I feel like I just won something important. I don't really know how to say how his words made me feel. I guess I feel sure of myself, like he tossed out all of my doubt. And I have A LOT of doubt. Even if this feeling only lasts till tomorrow I'm happy to have it. I haven't felt this sure of myself in a long time._

_Oh and before I forget he gave me this little sheet of paper and Clockwork said to copy what is says at the end, if I decided to write anything. Though I still really don't know what the heck it's supposed to mean. I'm not going to question it though Clockwork knows what he's doing._

_-Remember that despite the animosity you feel towards them he still loves them. You cannot do anything permanent to them if you wish to keep him on your side. Do not forget he can take care of himself, he does not wish to be coddled and treated like an infant. It is the little things he desires. Most importantly he is willing to forgive, but only if you give him the grounds to do so. You may head my advice or discard it, the choice is yours._

_Well that's all that's written here so I still have no clue what the heck it's supposed to mean. Besides being able to calm me down Clockwork really knows how to confuse me. Either way he said not to think a lot about it and that I really didn't need to worry about it. Whatever I'm not gonna bother with it. He's the Master of Time, not me. Thank god._

* * *

I flipped back through the entry again just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Daniel knew The Master of Time? I thought it was just a myth. That he didn't really exist. He hadn't been seen in thousands of years and Daniel talked about him like they were old friends! Questions that needed answers burned in the front of my mind's eye. How did Daniel know this being? What was this Clockwork like? Was he in the Ghost Zone? Then there was that passage.

I flipped back to the last page to read it. Had he been talking to me through Daniel? It seemed to be the case if you replaced 'he' with 'Daniel' and 'they' with 'Jack and Maddie'. I read the passage again. Had this Clockwork known I would steal Daniels journal and read it? Did he know of the circumstances that would befall him? Legend said that The Master of Time held incredible power, that he knew everything past present and possible futures.

This would need further investigation. Could the character Daniel spoke of be trusted, or was he merely someone else claiming to be Clockwork and lulling the boy into a sense of security? I somehow highly doubted it. Daniel's trust was not easily won, especially that of a ghost.

I reread the passage one more time. Perhaps I could use some of what was said. Daniel was indeed sixteen and would most likely not need to be tucked in every night like he was three. Despite whom the advice came it was good advice and I might heed it. I was not above taking direction when it seemed useful. Though that did not mean I was dropping finding more out about this Clockwork. I thought this book would answer more of my questions, I suppose it was fitting that it only raised more. I sighed before I turned to the next page to continue to read.

* * *

_I love Sam, I really do. I mean she's beautiful, she's intelligent, and she can take care of herself. I could see myself spending the rest of my life with her. Some days I want to scream it to the heavens that I love her, but I can't. I don't want to lose what I already have with her, which is our friendship. What if I say that I love her and she doesn't love me back? How could we be friends after that? I don't want to risk losing that, if I lost that I really don't know what I would do._

_If me and Sam got together where would that leave Tucker? I see the way he looks at her, I'm not an idiot. I mean Sam is pretty; it's not like I can blame him for noticing. He obviously doesn't want to get in the way of our friendship because he hasn't made any moves. I don't want to lose my friendship with Tucker either. Things were so much easier when we were in kindergarten, since when did it get all complicated?_

_I worry about Sam all the time. I mean I know she can handle herself against any human guy but I'm not so sure about ghosts. I know most ghosts know I have it bad for her, and I scares me out of my mind that they're going to use her as some kind of bait or something. They could use Tucker too, but for some reason they just don't think Tucker is as appealing as Sam. Tucker never really is targeted by any of the ghosts I fight. It's always Sam because they figure that if I love her that I'll do anything to save her. I hate the fact that they're right. No matter how much me, Tucker, and Sam all try to pretend like things are the way they were in second grade, they aren't. Freaking teenage hormones are screwing with my life. As if ghost powers and an embarrassing family weren't messing it up enough._

* * *

I smirked to myself. Everyone knew Daniel had it bad for Ms. Manson. Though the passage reaffirmed what I already knew it also confused me further. I was unaware that his other friend liked her as well. The situation seemed eerily familiar to me. One could easily replace Sam and Tucker with Jack and Maddie and Daniel with myself. I too had been afraid to make a move on Maddie because I didn't want to sacrifice either of my friendships with them. Then Jack made a move and the rest was history.

Had something similar happened to Daniel, was that why he had called his friends 'traitors' when I had prodded about them? A seed of sorrow was sewn in my stomach. If it was the case I could relate to the teen. I knew exactly how the hot rusty knife pulled at your heart. How you felt betrayed by the only people you thought you could trust.

But perhaps I was jumping to conclusions. This too would need further investigation. I could easily get those blasted vultures to check out Daniel's school and pick up the latest gossip. I rubbed my tired eyes and forged deeper into Daniel's problems.

* * *

_I feel useless; no matter how hard I try I can't please anyone. It's like a freaking curse. If I didn't know any better I'd _say_ that Johnny's shadow was following me around, but I can't blame today on him because he was stuck in the thermos all day._

_If I save someone I only get criticized because when I got thrown into a wall I caused property damage. I'm a pest that attracts trouble and can only do bad. I get a C- on my language arts test, which is pretty good for me, and I still get reprimanded because "It's not as good as your sister did" or "We know you can do better than this, why aren't you more like your sister". If I'm late to hang out with Sam and Tuck I get the bad rap because "I didn't let them help me with the ghost" or "I didn't tell them about it and I'm supposedly trying to keep my life secret from them". I can't even bandage myself up in peace because if Jazz walks in on me she freaks out saying that I should have gone straight to her room and that I was an idiot to think that I could handle this by myself._

_I've totally given up on trying to please people. I just can't, I am incapable of making anyone happy on purpose. Sure I can do it accidentally but I can't do it intentionally. I can't even buy my own sister a birthday present anymore. "Danny you shouldn't have spent money on me you need to use your allowance to buy new t-shirts so that Mom and Dad don't get suspicious". Yeah, so now it's a crime to buy your sister a birthday present. I however didn't get the memo! God I'm like one giant disappointment. Even my enemies are disappointed in me. "I'm disappointed in you little badger I was hoping you'd make the right decision" or "Tsk tsk Whelp you just aren't as much fun to hunt anymore." What the fucking crap! Why can't anyone be happy with me lately! Not even my enemy's! God it's like I'm destined to cause everyone around me some sort of disappointment or disapproval._

_I've given up. I am so past trying to please other people. I just can't do it. It's impossible! From now on I'm doing what I think is best and that's it. If they end up being happy with it well then that's a bonus for me. I don't really care what other people think about it. I just can't take that crap anymore._

* * *

It was about time he realized he couldn't make everyone happy. The boy was obviously tearing himself apart with the task. I sighed and fingered the page idly in my hand. If only the realization didn't have to cause him so much distress. People need to be selfish, it's a survival instinct. There is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself. As much pain as the revelation had caused Daniel I was happy for him. He was finally ridding himself of unnecessary stress. Though I was sure what "he thought was best" included keeping up with the ridiculous superhero-ing. I flipped to the next page and continued reading.

* * *

_I have gone officially insane. I have lost my mind and I am as paranoid about ghosts as my Dad. I don't just go around saying that either, I'm serious. You can't tell me otherwise either; I'm sure of it. It has gotten to the point where I could be classified with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or at least that's what Jazz keeps telling me. I didn't believe her before but now I pretty sure she's right, based on what happened today._

_So today I woke up, I got dressed, and I ate breakfast without being interrupted by ghosts or otherwise. I had only been woken up twice in the night so I had gotten a pretty good night's sleep. Jazz had left a decent amount of hot water for me. I was on my way to Sam's house walking next to Tucker when it happened. He looked over and noticed I was smiling. I asked him what he was talking about, and he just shrugged and said that I looked happy. I stopped for a moment and realized he was right. I was happy and for seemingly no reason. We'll ignore the fact that I can't remember the last time I genuinely smiled before that and get straight to the point._

_As soon as I realized I was happy without a cause I immediately blamed it on ghosts. I figured that I couldn't possibly be in a good mood or have gotten a relatively good night's sleep. I blamed my _happiness_ on a _ghost! _I haven't been happy in so long that when I am, I immediately think something is wrong and that a ghost must be the cause of it._

_That's how I know I've gone insane; because I can't even be happy anymore without my paranoia ruining it for me. I spent the whole freaking day beating myself up for thinking something so stupid but at the same time being extra cautious in case I was right and it was a ghost's fault that I was in a good mood. I mean Spectra can put you in a bad mood, so there could be a ghost that could put you in a good mood right? That makes sense; it would lull you into sense of security before it strikes so it can catch you off guard._

_But what the heck am I saying! Am I really that paranoid? Have I gone mentally insane! I can't even be happy anymore without thinking about how a ghost could be screwing up my life! I mean, AHHHH!_

_What am I supposed to do about something like this anyway? I mean my paranoia has saved this town so many times. But I don't want to live my life on constant alert like some creeper! What the heck is wrong with me? I shouldn't be worried about this crap. I don't know, Jazz says I need to take a break from ghosts, but it's not like that's really possible. One, because I'm a Fenton, and when you have that last name there is no escaping ghosts. Two I have to protect the town, it's not like a superhero can just take a vacation and leave people to fend for themselves._

_I don't know what to do. I'm freaked out, I'm worrying my brains out and I don't really think there is anything I can do about it. I'm just lost I guess. I don't know what to do._

* * *

I was once again proven that there was much I didn't know about the boy. This was serious, his sister was indeed right; from what he described he was suffering from some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I myself was not immune to a little paranoia, but this was far more severe than anything I had ever exhibited. This was full blown hysteria. It would have to be addressed. I would be informing all of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone to cease hostilities immediately. This would not stand. They would heed my warning if they wanted to continue their existence. Most knew not to cross what I decreed.

What the boy needed was a break. There were plenty of things in my mansion to make him feel at home. I'd have to show him the spa room sometime in the near future. For now the most I could do was let him continue to get a good night's sleep. I turned to the next page and read on.

* * *

_A little girl, her name was Delilah, got hurt in one of my ghost fights today. Her arm was fractured by a piece of a wall that fell on her before she could move out of the way. I tried to help her, I really did. I just wasn't fast enough. I failed her. I wasn't there when she needed me and in fact if me and the stupid ghost I was fighting wouldn't have been there in the first place she probably would have been fine._

_I went to visit her in the hospital after I had cleaned up a little of the mess I had made. Just to check on her, to make sure she was okay, and if I got the chance, to apologize. I wasn't expecting a warm welcome from her at all. I was supposed to have saved her and I didn't. I had let her down and she was now suffering because of it._

_I waited in the room near the ceiling invisibly while the adults talked to the parents in the corner. She was awake and had a blue sling on. She looked uncomfortable in her hospital gown the way she was tugging at it. I waited until all of the adults had gone to make my move. I watched for a moment as she stared idly off into space. She briefly occupied herself with picking at a warning sticker on the gurney she was laying in._

_Briefly I looked for something to rustle or make a little noise with. I learned from experience that just appearing out of nowhere without warning tends to make people scream, and I didn't want her drawing attention if I could help it. I landed on the floor and jostled the clipboard at the end of her bed around in its slot a little bit before I faded into view. Her eyes got wide for a moment before they lit up like Christmas trees. She clasped her hand over her mouth in surprise. I said something first._

_I asked her how her arm was. She took her hands away from her face and whispered that it was okay, that it throbbed a little bit but otherwise it wasn't a big deal. I rubbed the back of my neck and stuttered a little bit before I started apologizing. I couldn't look at her when I was. She was hurt because of me, what am I supposed to say? "Whoops sorry, I'll try to do better next time?" yeah that would be just peachy. Finally I felt a warm little hand on my arm and I snapped out of my rambling. She had moved onto her knees and had put her hand on my arm. She smiled warmly up at me and said exactly this._

"_You don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm sorry I was in the way. You're a superhero and you were just doing your job. It was my fault for not getting out of the way. I wanted to stay and watch the fight. Thanks for coming to check up on me."_

_It was a minute before I had my mouth back under control. I tried to tell her that she was talking nonsense, but she wasn't having any of it. She still thought I was the hero and in fact she thought she was the one who was in the wrong._

_Things from there moved to friendly conversation. I found out she was in second grade and that her name was Delilah. She had a dog named Skipper and an older brother. I got worried when she started to look all shy. I asked her what was wrong and she asked me if I would sign her cast. I had to use all of my self-restraint not to burst out laughing and draw attention to myself. She gave me a scolding look that reminded me way too much of Sam, so I stopped and told her I was sorry. I really wasn't used to getting that sort of question, and that yes I would sign her cast. She smiled before she started to look for a marker. We eventually found one and I made her sling intangible while I signed so that she wouldn't have to take it out._

_As I was putting the marker back where we had found it her parents walked in. Things from there did not go well. He mom screeched as loud as she could and immediately had all of the hospital staff running towards her as fast as they could. She ran towards me and started swinging her purse. Before she could move more than two inches I was out of there. I had been through this scenario too many times before. The most you can do to calm someone like that down is to just fly away._

_So here I am back at the house. It's so weird to me that two people in the same family can have such different opinions and reactions to the same thing. It was really nice to know that I have at least one fan out there. I would go visit her again but they'll probably have some sort of ghost shield up around her room now. My parents sold a couple of them to the hospital not too long ago to protect the patients._

_I hate being the villain. I wish people would see that I'm not a bad guy. I hope that Delilah is okay and that she is back on her feet soon. I wish that everyone could get it through their heads that I'm not going to hurt them. Most of the time it's mostly them whose hurting me anyway._

* * *

Daniel had too big of heart for his own good. It was going to be his downfall I was sure of it. That he would even think to go to check up on the girl spoke volumes about the way the boy put others before himself. Most people would have just gone the other way without a second thought, but Daniel wouldn't would he?

I thought it rather ironic that both this Delilah character and Daniel placed unjustified blame on themselves. Though if the girl really did stay behind to watch Daniel she was really partly responsible for what happened. Daniel also brought up valid points advocating his own guilt. We would have to work on putting that type of skill to a more productive purpose. He was really rather good at manipulating circumstances to fancy his own needs. We just needed to adjust his needs so that they really were _his needs_ instead of how he currently twisted things so that they were immediately his problem.

Daniel's heroics though cumbersome and unnecessary, were and endless source of entertainment. I could not restrain a small smirk as I flipped the page and continued to read.

* * *

_The fruitloop came over today. Gah! That guy makes me want to rip my hair out! Does he have to flaunt how much better he is than me in my face every opportunity he gets? I hate it when he calls me 'little badger'. What am I, his pet? How'd he come up with that name anyway, did his dad call him that? That would explain a lot, I'd be a little crazy too if I was raised being told I was a small animal. You know at least he earned the nickname fruitloop. I wouldn't have even called him that more than once if he hadn't reacted so much. At least I have one thing that I know will get under his skin._

_I don't even try to beat him anymore; if I can keep his hands off my family than I've done my job. He knows my every weakness, one little poke in the right spot and he has me beat. I think he knows more about me that I do, and that's just creepy! The stuff he's done oh my god it's a miracle he hasn't been arrested! Then again he's Vlad isn't he? He can get anything he wants because he's had his ghost powers for twenty years and he knows everything. Why does he have to be like that?_

_He teased me about my 'scary eyes' again and shot laser beams out of his eyes just to prove he was better than me. HIS EYES! I still can't make my eyes green whenever I want. They still will only change when my emotions are strong enough. Why does he have to be so good at using his powers? I can still only make two of myself and he can freaking make enough to overshadow an entire town. How'd he get to be so good? I practice every freaking day and I'm probably still way behind where he was when he's had his powers for this long._

_I really hate how he teases me about how much 'better' my powers are getting when we fight. You know most battle banter I can just brush off and not take personally, but what he says tends to stick to me like it was freaking super glued there. God I'll spend days after one of our fights trying to figure out if what he said was a genuine compliment or whether he was just playing with me! It drives me insane!_

_Just why exactly does the only other half ghost in existence have to be a psychotic maniac who is bent on forcing my mom to love him and killing my dad? Even with all of that stuff, every once in a while I almost want to go to him and take him up on his offer. Sometimes I just want someone to help me with my powers instead of having to figure out everything by myself. I want to know how he does that weird thing where he disappears in a pink mist. I don't know whether he's like teleporting somewhere else or something like that but I have absolutely no clue how to even try to do that._

_Then there's the fact that he's the only other person like me in existence. Sometimes I just feel so alone, like I'm some kind of mutant that no one fully understands, and in a way that's true. I am a mutant that most people, even Sam and Tuck, will never fully understand. The freaking fruitloop can understand though! God how screwed up is this freaking universe?_

_Sometimes I just want someone to talk to about how learning new powers can be hard, or about how weird the Ghost Zone feels, or about how I wonder what would happen if you only phased something halfway through something else? Some days I want to go to Vlad's so bad, even though he's done all of those awful things to my family. I just want someone to relate to, just so I know I'm not a complete freak like everyone says I am. I want to know that the way my powers are developing is normal. I want to know that there's nothing wrong with being half ghost. I just want someone who really get's it, to tell me its okay. Sam Tucker and Jazz all try to tell me they understand but they don't and they can't. No matter how much they try they won't ever know what I'm going through, or just exactly how alone you can feel in a room full of people. It is so tempting not to just go running over to Vlad's house, just to maybe feel like I'm not the only one in the world._

_The solutions to all of my problems are right in front of my face and I can't reach for them. I just can't because of what he's done to me and the one's I love. I hate him so much and at the same time I want him to be around more often so that I can feel like I'm not dealing with all of this by myself. The man is just so dammed confusing. I really don't know what to do about him anymore. I think one of these days I'm going to crack and finally give in. I really can't keep this up forever. It's like dangling a steak in front of a dog. The dog is only going to behave for so long before it takes its chances and damns the consequences._

_I'm at that point where I'm about willing to take those chances. I mean is it so wrong to want that help? Is it so bad to want to feel like you're not a freak, like you're not the only one with these problems?_

_What am I saying anyway, Vlad wouldn't really understand. He'd probably laugh in my face for my weakness. He only wants to help me because I'm half ghost like him. He doesn't care about who I am as a person. I'm only a pawn or some sort of twisted apprentice in his eyes. My needs don't really matter to him anyway. I'm better off here where I'm not going to be treated like a freaking lump of clay that's expected to take whatever is thrown at it without any questions._

_I don't need Vlad; he did it by himself didn't he? He didn't have anyone to help him with his powers and look at him he's one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Besides I've made it a year by myself haven't I? I can do it by myself, I don't need help..._

_Though that still doesn't mean I don't want it._

* * *

I stared at the last sentence, in more than a little shock. I hadn't expected that at all. I re-read the entry another time. He listened to what I said, even in our fights? He wanted to learn from me? He wanted someone to talk to? I knew he was having these thoughts, I had had them too. It's impossible not to have them. I just was unaware of how intense the boy's want for someone to understand him was.

I was also unaware he held me in such high esteems. If there is one thing every ghost knows about Daniel it is that he sees no one as above challenging him. Apparently he had 'given up' trying to beat me. Though I was unaware of the fact for he continued to thwart my plans, which in my book is a defeat. I had no idea he thought I was unbeatable that he saw me in that sort of light.

I knew exactly what he was talking about with wanting someone to confess to. I knew about all of what he was feeling. I had wanted it for twenty odd years. It was why I was so adamant about having Daniel at my side. I wanted him as a son because I knew I could understand him in a way that no one else would ever be able to; because really I am the best candidate for the job.

Though I suppose some of the things that he said were true. I had never really taken into account that he might have his own opinions. I did largely want him as my son for _what _he was instead of _who _he was; though I was now certain that that was going to change. He had not come to me because it was planned in one of my schemes; he had come to me in confidence, because I was the only person he felt he could relate to that he had left.

I was also certain that, even from just our previous battles and encounters, there were many traits that we had in common. Though I suppose I still did not know Daniel very well. Yes I spied on virtually every aspect of his life, but I never really got to know _him._ I re-read the passage one more time and it solidified something within me.

I would be a better parent to Daniel. I am going to be the mentor he wishes and dreams of. He is going to wonder why he did not come to me sooner. I am going to be the father he never had in that fat imbecile Jack Fenton. He will always have a home here no matter what may happen in his life. I waited for the fact to set in before I turned the page, hoping to maybe get to know my little badger a little better.


	10. Chapter 10: Breakfast: The Most

AN/: Okay guys i worked really hard to crank this one out so apperciate it! I have been so freaking busy lately. I have had so much crap to do so many peopel to see and a lot of places to go. don't expect another update for at least a week and a half becasue after i get back form this trip I'm going on it'll be the fourth of july and I have to march in a parade on the fifth and see family for that so don;t get your hopes up. Pearl, Remind me to message you I need to ask a couple of quetions before i post next chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter you will be getting that short I promised! yeah for you. Not yeh for me becasue I was stubborn and decided to crank it out in the past three hours so go check it out. It's called "Hey There Delilah" and i'm psoting it imediatly after i'm done with this. you all earned it. I relaly do love those reviews you guys. You all are too nice! Um what else what else... i cant realy think of anything else to say. For all you critics out there I want you to pay close attention to Danny's reaction and I want you to tell me if you think it was uncalled for. you'll knwo what i mean later. If you don;t and you want to know PM me or review and I will elt you know as soon as I can. Oh and just as a side note I really like the title to the chapter i think it's the best one so far!Ignore the horible spelling and gramar it's late i'm tired and you can sort of understand it so it doesnt; really matter!

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 10: Breakfast: the Most IMportant Meal of the Day

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originaly Uploaded: Sunday, June 27, 2010, 12:44AM_

_Edited: Monday, July 5, 2010, 9:42PM (for really really bad grammar and weird formating)_

_Edited: Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 8:21PM_

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**Danny's POV**

"_You will never be our son who could love a monster like you. Now get out of my house and away from my family you blood thirsty monster!" _I blinked a couple of times coming out of my daydream. I lay awake in bed staring at the folds of the canopy above me. I had no more tears left to cry so I merely sighed and turned to look at the window to, hopefully, prevent myself from slipping into another daydream. However, just because my mind wasn't showing me vivid images of my parents' rejection didn't mean I could stop thinking about it. It was all I could think about.

For hours I had laid here and wrapped my mind around the concept. My parents did not love me. They hated me; they believed I was a monster and that I had kidnapped myself. Had Jazz said something to them? Did she try to convince them otherwise; to take me back?

I rolled over and looked at the door that led to the hallway. I had to do it in such a way that I didn't get tangled up in the pajamas Vlad had given me to wear. They were black silk and didn't stretch at all. I had already taken off the top and it was on the floor next to the bed. Unfortunately the task of flipping over was only a temporary distraction. My mind quickly went back to dwelling on my situation.

I still wasn't sure how I felt about Vlad. He hadn't reacted like I had expected him too. Half of me wanted to think he was just playing with me and trying to get me on his side, and the other half didn't care regardless. I wanted the attention. I wanted to feel like there was a least one person who cared if I existed. I debated over and over whether to let myself feel better because of Vlad even if he was faking, or if I should shove the comfort away and prevent myself from the pain it would cause later. As much as I wanted to try, shoving Vlad away was an impossible option. I couldn't really run away from him; I was living with him now. Plus I wanted what he was giving me with my entire soul. What he was giving me was a little reassurance. Vlad made things seem like they were going to be okay. He made it look like I would get through this. He made it seem like there was still one person that cared about me.

I was like a man in a room full of smoke clinging to an oxygen mask. I desperately did not want to give it up. I couldn't; I needed what Vlad was offering to give to me. I didn't have the will to shove it away, not anymore. Things had changed. Who did I have to fight for anymore? I guess I still had Jazz, but she would be stuck with our parents for a while. I had to do what was best for me right now. It was clear at least to me that maybe letting Vlad take care of me was what was going to acompolish that. I blinked a couple of times wetting my dry eyes, as my mind drifted to thinking of other things.

Even if my parents did want me back I knew for sure that things would never be the same. My own father had come seconds away from taking the other half of my life. I had stared down the barrel of a gun and seen my father's face intent on killing me at the other end. They had shot at me before that, but it was never with such hate. The fire that burned behind his eyes, the absolute disgust he felt for my existence; that part was new. Even after I had showed him that I was his son he had only slightly hesitated before deciding that I wasn't a part of his family; that a ghost couldn't possibly be his son. He was so obviously revolted by the suggestion.

My insides decided to painfully constrict again. I curled up into a tight ball to try to ease the tension in my stomach. My mom's cries of despair echoed in my ears. She was horrified with me, with what I was, with what I represented. She had stood by and done nothing to stop dad as he pointed a gun in my face. She hated me too. She thought I was a monster and a killer. She didn't think I was myself anymore. I couldn't possibly be her son; she could never be a mother to such a creature.

Even if Jazz had convinced them that I was good, that it really was me, and that they should accept me, things would never be the same. I would never be able to look at my dad again without seeing that hate in his eyes. I wouldn't be able to listen to my mom without hearing the disgust in her voice. I couldn't forget what they had done to me, as much as I tried. They couldn't take it back. They had done something to me that I wasn't sure I would ever be able to forgive. I had seen the side of them they had kept hidden from me for so long: that absolute hate for ghosts that ran in their veins. It was like an angry monster that they had kept in a cage until that moment. And right then they had let it out in front of me and were about to let it kill me, despite everything I stood for, regardless of the things I'd done to help the town. They thought I was evil. They thought I deserved to die even after they knew what I was.

My eyes stayed unfocused and my stare blank as I turned the information over and over in my head; trying to figure out exactly what that meant. They would never hug me again; they would never tell me they loved me anymore. Even if they did they wouldn't mean it. Not like they had before they knew; nothing was the same. I couldn't call my house my home. I didn't have that love anymore. I didn't have a place to belong.

My eyes came into focus as I realized the door I was staring at was opening slowly. A man wearing a white oxford shirt, a pair of dress pants, and shiny black shoes stepped through the door holding a stack of clothes.

"Good morning little badger." I didn't reply, I didn't smile, or make any indication that I had heard him. I just stared into his eyes silently waiting. Vlad smiled sadly before he walked over towards me. I followed him with my eyes. He stopped when he was standing directly above my head.

"Come now Daniel, you're already awake. Sit up and show some common courtesy hm?" I continued to stare at him for a minute before I did what he said. Despite how freaking shitty I felt, being rude was really still a foreign concept to me. I felt weird when I was being rude, even if it was to Vlad, and I didn't need to feel any weirder that I already did. I scooted to a sitting position, leaned against the headboard, and stared at my lap, as a pile of clothes was set there.

"Here, these are your clothes for today. You know where the bathroom is. I'm going to have Douglas wait for you outside the bedroom door. I would like you to be ready and down to breakfast in twenty minutes. I will be leaving for work in an hour and we have some things to cover before I leave." I slowly brought my eyes up to meet Vlad's. He was acting like everything was normal, like I woke up here every day, and that I always wore silk pajamas. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Half of me was grateful that he wasn't making a fuss over me. The other half was confused and a little suspicious.

I gave a small nod to let Vlad know I had heard him before I let my gaze fall back to the clothes in front of me. It was basically the same thing I had worn yesterday except the oxford was a light baby blue with some sort of white graphic design on it.

I didn't look over as Vlad walked back to the door he had come in from.

"Twenty minutes Daniel, don't be late." His tone was light but forceful. The door clicked shut and I just sat there for a minute. My mind was blank and I really didn't focus on anything. I was like a robot as I flung the covers off on my legs and swung my feet to the carpet.

I had to be down to breakfast in twenty minutes.

* * *

"My you look rather dashing this morning sir. If I could direct you this way to the dining room, I believe Mr. Masters has requested you be at breakfast." I mustered a meek smile for the butler as I was led down the hallway.

"Thanks." The butler however picked up on the fact that I wasn't happy and decided to ask about it.

"Is there anything wrong sir? Is there anything I can do for you?" I briefly sighed and closed my eyes. I laughed evilly in my head at the question, though the question put me nowhere near an actual laughing mood. Leave it to the universe to play its sick game when you least expected it.

"No there isn't anything anyone can do." Put off by my seriously depressing comment the butler straightened back out and didn't say anything else as we walked down to the dining room. I recognized some things and tried to memorize some more as we went along. Just out of boredom and out of habit. I really didn't like to be lost when I could help it.

The butler opened the pair of heavy doors to the dining room that Vlad had taken me to the day before. I paused briefly at all of the commotion. There were maids and butlers seemingly everywhere. One was holding a pair of ties for Vlad to choose from, another was reading the major headlines to him. A maid stood behind his chair and carefully combed his hair back into a ponytail. Another butler was on the floor and diligently shinning Vlad's shoes, and still another was refilling Vlad's cup of orange juice as he took a bite of sausage. Vlad himself had a cell phone pressed to his ear and was shouting into it.

"No! I said that those plans were strictly experimental! Who was the idiot who decided that they were ready for production! We have more kinks to work out and the product is not satisfactory to sell to the public in its current state! I want the person responsible in my office this afternoon, and the expenses of the wasted materials will be coming out of their paycheck!" Vlad abruptly snapped the phone shut. He mumbled a few incoherent things to himself and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The butler who led me to the dining room gently nudged me to move forward. I took a hesitant step towards all of the bustling people. The movement caught Vlad's attention.

"Daniel, you're early! Here, come, sit, have some breakfast. What is it that you like? You barely had any of the dinner I brought you last night." I was a little less hesitant and walked forward with Vlad's beckoning. I briefly wrestled with another butler who thought he was going to move my chair for me before I sat down. Vlad put down his fork and called to one of the maids who were moving around him.

"Tiffany, would you get Daniel his breakfast?" the maid perked up at being addressed and quickly sprung over to my side.

"Of course Mr. Masters," The cheery maid with bouncy brown curls turned to me, "What would you like sir?" I rubbed the back of my neck uncertainly.

"Um well, what do you have?" The maid gave me a nervous look and Vlad laughed lightly.

"Daniel, I have everything. Just pick something you want; pancakes, waffles, crepes, French toast, anything at all and Eduardo will make it for you." Vlad went back to his own breakfast thinking that the small dilemma had been solved. I stared at the empty plate in front of me.

I had no clue what I wanted for breakfast. How was I supposed to decide between all that stuff? I wasn't even really that hungry! The maid next to me started to shift a little apprehensively as she waited for me to answer her. I guess I could narrow it down a little bit. I didn't really want anything flakey, or too gooey, or…

"Daniel here," Vlad repositioned himself in his chair seeming a little annoyed with my indecision, "what do you usually have for breakfast?" I blushed and looked away from Vlad, taking a sudden interest in my plate. Oh god this was not where I wanted things to go. I quickly responded.

"No um it's okay; I'll just have whatever you're having." Vlad frowned and stopped the maid from going to tell Eduardo.

"Daniel you can have whatever you want, you don't have to have what I'm having if you don't want it. Now what is it that you usually have? Those "pop tarts" that seem to be so popular with kids your age? I have every flavor in the pantry for when I have business associates' families over and their children do not agree with whatever elaborate meal I have planned. I do have what you would call 'normal food' Daniel you can go ahead and ask for it." I stuttered a little before I responded.

"I-it's fine really, I'm sure it's-

"Daniel." Vlad said it in a flat tone of voice that clearly said I should tell him what I had for breakfast everyday or suffer the consequences. My face got redder as I realized I had only two options. Answer or don't answer; and I would be getting Vlad's wrath either way. I decided to suffer for giving him what he wanted, instead of refusing to answer. I sighed and braced myself. I spoke in a low tone of voice, under the notion that maybe if I said it quite enough Vlad wouldn't get mad at me.

"Fruitloops." There was a moment of silence as I braced for impact. I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped the edge of my chair. This was great, just great. This was exactly what I needed right now. I think the universe is just out to get me. I winced when I heard Vlad loudly exhale.

"Tiffany, he'll be having what I'm having." Besides the exasperated undertone Vlad had said it in, he was completely calm. My eyes shot open and I stared at the man sitting next to me. His face was carefully blank and he focused on eating his food. There was silence for a minute and I squirmed awkwardly in my seat.

Okay he hadn't exploded. So, what the heck was I supposed to do now? My answer clearly upset Vlad. Should I apologize? I didn't need Vlad upset right now he was the one giving me a roof over my head and food in my stomach. Even if it wasn't my fault, I couldn't hurt to say sorry. He got pissed off enough in our fights when I called him that. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination that I might be punished for the slip. I exhaled heavily and hung my head. I was about to start talking when Vlad cut me off.

"You were awake this morning when I came in, did you sleep well?" I was thrown off by the change in conversation. He was going to move on just like that? He didn't even let me say anything. What the heck was wrong with him? Why was he being so nice? Maybe he was a morning person. Jazz was always really awake and excited in the morning. I got my bearings back and responded.

"Yeah, I slept fine," I shifted my gaze back to my plate, "just a lot on my mind." Vlad ignored the slightly awkward and depressed tone in my voice and nodded slightly.

"Good, if anything were to your distaste we could make other arrangements until you pick a room to decorate and call your own." My gaze was torn from the plate of pancakes being lowered in front of me to stare at Vlad. What did he just say? He wanted me to pick a room. Like, for me? In his mansion? My mouth opened and closed, as I interlay battled with thanking him or throwing a fit. Vlad casually took a bite of pancakes and continued before I could get my mouth to function.

"Which brings me to one of the things I would like to discuss with you before I leave. I would like you to explore the mansion today Daniel. You may look around at your leisure. I would like you to look for a room to call your own. You don't have to decide immediately, though you can if you find a room today you particularly like. There are three rooms I would prefer you stay out of: my room, my private study, and the lab. They are the only three locked doors in the entire mansion so they should be easy enough to identify. I will know if you decide to enter any of those rooms Daniel, and I will not tolerate it. I will respect your privacy when you set your boundaries, I expect you to respect mine." Vlad lowered his gaze and gave me a glare so that he was certain I knew he was serious. My eyes just continued to bulge out of my head as my mouth remained open. I nodded my head slightly to indicate I had heard him. Vlad gave a confirming nod before he returned to his breakfast.

"Excellent. Then I'll inform you that my mansion is rather large and it is not impossible to get lost in it. Feel free to use any short cuts _you_ might find convenient. Though you should remain _out_ of the way of the staff, they have their jobs to do you understand?" Vlad brought his gaze back to mine to see if I had gotten his message. It took me a minute but I thought I got it. He was saying I should use my ghost powers to get around, right? I shoved a ton of food into my mouth to buy some time to come up with a way to covertly ask him if that's what he was asking. Finally an idea hit me and I swallowed what was in my mouth while I fingered the fork in my hand.

"So I can use _any_ shortcuts?" As I turned the fork over in my hand I made it flicker briefly into invisibility. Not enough for anyone who wasn't paying attention to notice, but someone who was looking for it would. Hopefully, Vlad would get the message I was asking about ghost powers. I figured he got it when one of those creepy grins that usually meant I was going to get hurt appeared on his face. The look made me apprehensive as I unconsciously prepared myself to fight at the signal. I had the urge to get into an actual battle stance when his eyes flickered red as he responded.

"Yes, just so long as you're careful, and don't try anything too _dangerous_." I quickly tried to calm the warning bells that were blaring in my head. Vlad wasn't going to do anything. He was just communicating with me that was it. I rested my elbow on the table so I could put my head in my hand to hide myself from Vlad's view.

Instincts were telling me to fight back, that there was a ghost nearby, and that I was in danger. I had to remind myself I was just being paranoid. His eyes only flickered because he was trying to tell me he got the message. He wasn't angry or coming up with any plans behind my back, it was strictly a signal. My heart rate thumped loudly in my head as I tried to convince myself I was not going to come into a world of hurt. I heard a polite cough and the clinking of silverware as Vlad set his fork down on his plate. I reluctantly turned my head to look back at him when he started to talk again.

"Besides that you may do as you please. Simply inform one of the staff when you are hungry and they will make you lunch. I will be home about seven to seven thirty. Diner will be served immediately upon my return. You may feel free to request any snack or drink if you find yourself feeling hungry." I nodded a little to let him know I understood what he said as I took another bite of my sausage. I tried my best to act casual. Maybe he didn't notice my weird reaction. I tried to act normal as Vlad talked to the butlers around him. I heard him get out of his chair and walk to stand at my side. I tried to keep my gaze awkwardly averted so I wouldn't chance freaking out more. I was still tense and on high alert. However any resemblance to normal I had been portraying was thrown out the window as Vlad put his hand on my shoulder.

I immediately froze and every muscle in my body contracted. I couldn't stop my body as it naturally prepared itself for attack. My heart rate accelerated and adrenaline was pumped through my system. My brain was screaming at me to move to get out from under Vlad's hand. Red sirens were blaring inside my head that I was in danger. It took every conscious fiber in my being not to get out of the chair and retaliate. He wasn't going to hurt me, he wasn't going to hurt me, he wasn't going to do _anything_. Then Vlad did the thing that would put me more on edge. Vlad squeezed my shoulder.

I couldn't hold myself back anymore, I flung myself out of my chair away from Vlad. I ducked into a roll and came out of it standing in a battle stance against the wall. All of my senses were on high alert and analyzing the room for any impending threat. All of the maids and butlers stopped and stared at me. There was an eerie silence as I scanned the room. Vlad looked at me with a frown on his face.

I finally snapped out of it and forced myself to stand up fully. I tried to keep my eyes from darting around without much success. My heart rate was still franticly pounding away in my ear. My gaze snapped to Vlad at an inhumane speed as he coughed politely. I noticed a piece of paper in his hand. Without taking his eyes off me Vlad continued like absolutely nothing had happened.

"This is a list of phone numbers for you to call in case of an emergency. If you run into _anything_ Daniel I want you to call me, do you understand?" I gulped as I came down from my adrenaline high. I breathed a large breath and nodded my head as I responded.

"Yeah, I got it." Vlad nodded definitively and he grabbed a suitcase from a butler who was still frozen next to him. He brushed some invisible dust off of his suit jacket and turned back to me.

"I'm afraid I must be leaving for work now Daniel. Have a good day." I stuttered a little as I responded.

"Y-you too." I was mostly out of 'attack mode' now and was aware of everyone staring at me in either shock or curiosity. Vlad smiled. His footsteps sounded like bombs as he walked out of the disturbingly quite room. The door opened then closed and Vlad was gone, diverting any and all attention that had been focused of him, to me. I shuffled nervously and kept my gaze to the floor. Well this was awkward. With my still slightly heightened senses I realized the door Vlad had just exited had opened slightly again. Vlad stuck his upper half silently into the room before he spoke.

"You know it's rude to stare." All of the maids and butlers jumped in surprise before they started moving nervously towards the doors they had been frequenting. Vlad sent me another look before he shut the door behind him once again. Not long after all of the maids and butlers had scrambled out of one door or another, those too closed; leaving me in a very big empty room.

I sighed and moved back to my chair to sit down. I stared at my plate. The pancakes had soaked up most of the syrup by now. Vlad's plate was empty in the spot next to mine. I picked up my fork which had clattered to the table when I had jumped and stabbed a piece of pancake. I shoved the breakfast food in my mouth. They were now a little cold from being left out. Today was turning out to be _such_ a great day.


	11. Chapter 11: And Behind Door Number Three

AN/: Hey guys long time no see huh? well i'm back from camp and i did the parade. I actually got to lead the parade how cool is that? I was leading a parade! okay well actually it was just the band but it was still pretty cool. Although now i have a slight sunburn and my face is kinda hot. Oh well. Here is the next chapter. I think it's kinda fun. i set a lot of things up for next chapter and chapters to come. I hope you all didnt mind the slight wait, i was really busy this week. But i got a longer chapter up here to make up for it. Oh and the training room some of you may recognize from checkmate, i just tweeaked it a little. I did ask permision to use it, and the way Danny shoots ecto-energy like he's dealing cards, That's Pearl's too. But i asked permision for all of it so its all good! I realy don;t have anything to say about this chapter I like it I hope you do to. Please let me know if you find anything wrong or if you have any general oppinons. You know I love to hear um!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arm's**

Chapter 11: And Behind Door Number Three...

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originaly Uploaded: Monday, July 5, 2010, 9:29PM_

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**Danny POV**

I could not keep an amused grin off of my face as I closed the door on that last room. It was what I had dubbed 'the cheese room', and it was nothing but cheese. Everywhere, displayed in deli counter refrigerator glass cases, was the dairy food. Behind the cases was space enough to walk. A wall of refrigerators lined the back of the room behind the deli cases. I ate the last little sample piece of Colby-jack I had taken. I actually had to hold down a laugh as I recalled the note I had found laid out in plain sight in the middle of the room.

_- Dairy King,_

_Here, I have filled this room with nothing but cheese. You will find every kind of cheese here, I made sure of it. I expect you to keep you're cheese obsession to this room now that you have your own sickly amount of the blasted food. SO STOP TAKING ALL OF MINE!_

_-Sincerely _

_Vlad Plasmius_

I had been to a lot of rooms already but that one by far was the funniest. I had already seen twenty four guest rooms, all with their own bathrooms and walk in closets, three broom closets, six individual bathrooms, Vlad's Packer's collection, the gun room, his private theater, the giant room that Vlad held the college reunion in, the library, the TV room, the map room, the museum room, the kitchen, the wine cellar, the pantry, and the music room.

So far my favorite was the music room. It was nothing but an entire room dedicated to listening to music. The walls had been absolutely lined with CD's and records. Even though speakers were nowhere to be seen, sound blasted from every corner when you hit play on the main stereo. However, of course Vlad didn't have any Dumpty Humpty. All he had was old 80's stuff, classical music, and a little bit of classic rock; that was it.

My least favorite room was the gun room. That one had given me the chills. Guns were everywhere in there, and every kind imaginable was represented. Sure I was used to having guns in the house, but those were ecto-guns. They weren't supposed to hurt humans. Real guns were still a kind of creepy to me. Even ecto-guns couldn't instantly take a ghosts life. The guns in that room all had the ability to kill with one shot. The whole concept just made me uncomfortable. There was a huge storage case thingy full of ammunition too. Vlad could have had his own war with all of the stuff in that room. Connected to that room there was an indoor shooting range. I didn't spend a lot of time in that room though so I didn't really remember a lot of details.

I think the weirdest room I had come across was one of the closets. It wasn't even really a closet it was basically a room filled with clothes. It was huge and there were more clothes in there than any one person could possibly wear. Even if they wore the something different every day for an entire year. What really did it for me though, was that everything was my size.

Everything.

That was just plain creepy, Vlad had bought enough clothes for ten people in that room, and all of it was meant for me. I had to admit I was curious about where Vlad was getting all of the clothes that I had worn the past two days, but I hadn't spent much thought on it. Well, here all of my questions were answered.

Of course I had a look around, and I was not disappointed. If it was wearable Vlad had it in every available color, in my size, in that room. I found a virtual rainbow of converse which made me very happy, and there were a lot of suits. Oh my god were there suits. Black ones, grey ones, pin striped ones, navy blue ones, white ones, there was even one that was peptol bismol pink! I think I counted fifty four suits in all; complete with matching tie, undershirt, expensive watch and shiny shoes. Honestly I think the guy had a problem with suits.

There was really only one problem I had with all of the clothes in that room. None of them were ugly or unfashionable they all fit nicely, or at least they all looked like they would and I didn't doubt that Vlad, being the fruitloop he was, had gotten everything in the correct size. No, what really bothered me was that in the whole freaking room I had only found three t-shirts.

Three.

One was a dumpty humpty t-shirt that had all of the bands signatures on it. There was no way I was putting that one back and I made sure to put it where I could see it the next time I came in here. I would be coming back in here. I did not plan on having Vlad pick out my clothes for the rest of my life. The next shirt was a black one with a white Danny Phantom insignia on it. I had no clue whether Vlad was into irony or he just thought it was funny, but I really wasn't planning on wearing it any time soon. The third one was a packers jersey, if that really qualified as a t-shirt. Whatever, it was one of only three cotton based things in the room.

If I had anything to say about it the t-shirt situation would be remedied here pretty quickly. The trick was going to be convincing Vlad that I didn't need to wear a suit every day. I shook my head at the prospect. That was going to be a challenge if there ever was one.

I shortly walked down the hall to the next door. This whole thing was turning out to be more fun than I had thought. Vlad had some crazy stuff, and you never really knew what was going to be behind the next door.

After going through twenty four guest rooms I had an idea of the one that I wanted. They were all surprisingly different for there being twenty four of them. I really liked the one I had found with a balcony and the big sky light. That would be awesome at night to look up and see the stars.

Besides having a sky light the room was pretty big. It was painted a calm sort of blue and there were really big windows. I jumped on the bed and it was comfy enough. I had found a remote, and after fiddling around with a couple of buttons I got the bed to give me a back massage, a TV to appear in several different places, and the sound system to work. I was pretty much won over though when I walked out onto the balcony and found a telescope there.

Though as I found more and more rooms that weren't bedrooms, I focused less on finding a room to call my own and more on finding out what exactly was in this mansion. I twisted yet another golden knob and opened the door on my next surprise.

Another broom closet; whoopdy doo. I disappointedly closed the door and kept walking down the hallway to the next one. I eagerly twisted the door knob once again to see what was inside.

It was dark, which was good. That meant it wasn't a broom closet. I focused on my night vision and quickly found the light switch so I could turn it on. What the lights revealed was a room full of shiny brass. A sunken in area in the middle of the room was packed with musical instruments.

A tuba, a trombone, a trumpet, a saxophone, a clarinet, drums, bells, guitars, a piano, a baritone, a bassoon, a French horn, the list went on. I tore my gaze away from the mass of instruments and looked at the rest of the room. It looked like it was meant to be acoustically pleasing. It reminded me of the walls in the auditorium at school anyway.

There was a bookcase on the other side of the room against the wall. I quickly walked over to it and looked at what was in it. It didn't hold a lot of books, mostly folders and paper. I skimmed the few books that sat on the top shelf. Curiously I pulled one out so I could get a better look at it. _Learn to Play the French Horn_ it read across the top. Lines of music were decoratively strewn randomly over the cover. Slightly intrigued, I flipped through the book. It was full of little lines of music and explanations and stuff. I put the book back and took out another one next to it. It was virtually the same thing only it was for a baritone. Not really finding anything too exciting I put the book back and took out one of the folders hoping to find something a little more interesting. On the front of the folder I picked out it read _Shostakovich: Fire of Eternal Glory._ Thinking the title was weird I continued to open it. Inside there was more music for seemingly every instrument. I quickly grew bored with all of it. Especially since I really had no idea how to read music or any of that stuff.

I put the folder back about where I had thought I had taken it out and looked around the room again. All of the instruments in the middle of the sunken floor looked kind of cool. As I took a brief inventory of what exactly was there my eyes met a shiny black drum set. I lingered on it for a moment before I was unconsciously moving my feet in that direction. I walked down the few steps towards it and got behind it where I quickly sat down on the squishy little stool behind the set. I found a pair of drumsticks hanging in a little pocket off of the drums.

Looking around to make sure no one was going to yell at me for it, I reached over and tenderly removed the smooth sticks from their place. I held them in my hands like I had seen the drummer of Dumpty Humpty do in a concert. Thinking of this awesome drum solo in one of their songs I excitedly decided to give the drum in front of me a good whack.

It turns out that when you hit a drum it makes a noise. A very loud noise. My eyes got wide and I immediately put my hand on the drum to silence it. The loud noise startled me and it felt wrong to interrupt the silence that had previously occupied the room. I nervously looked around and waited for someone to come and yell at me for making the loud noise. I internally jeered at myself when I realized I was alone in the room.

A little more apprehensive I brought my gaze back to the drum. I _was _the only one here, and Vlad said I could look around and stuff. I brought the stick down on the drum head a second time only A LOT lighter. I was rewarded with a little 'thump'. Smiling, I found the little pedal thing and put my foot on it. I pushed down very slightly and got a small 'dump'.

Things just sort of escalated from there and it wasn't long until I was banging away on everything in no particular order just to make noise. After a while I was tired of just beating on the drums and I got up from the little chair. Now a little braver and way more curious I walked over to the bell kit that was next to the drums. I found more sticks in a little pocket hanging off of the stand similar to the ones on the drums and didn't hesitate to pick them up. I bypassed starting out quietly and went right to dragging the sticks down the length of the kit. I was a little gity as the action caused a fun noise that got higher or lower very quickly depending on which way I moved the stick. Sooner rather than later I got bored with that too and moved on to the next thing.

It wasn't long before I had hit, or plucked every instrument in the room that had strings, used sticks, or hammers. Having now tried all of the instruments that you used your hands to make noise with I moved on to the ones you had to blow into. Curiously I moved over to a saxophone that was sitting on a stand.

When my locker had been moved over by the band room I had seen people use one often enough. I put the strap over my head so that it rested around my neck. I really didn't know how to hold it and tried to mimic what I had seen the band people do. However it was obviously more complicated than they made it look because there were way more buttons than I had fingers. Growing impatient I settled for what was most comfortable and got the end you were supposed to blow into, in my mouth. Pulling from my memories of playing the recorder in first grade I blew lightly into the instrument.

And nothing happened.

I blew a little harder to try to get a sound out. Still nothing. I blew as hard as I could to try to get it to make some kind of noise, but I was getting nothing but the sound of air rushing through the metal pipes. I quickly ran out of air and had to take another breath. As I closed my mouth around the weird thing again my teeth accidentally touched the wood as I blew hard into the instrument.

HOOOOOOONK!

I quickly pulled the instrument away from my face and my hand shot up to cover my mouth. I had not been expecting the weird tingly feeling that shot up my teeth or the loud noise that resulted from it. A shiver ran down my spine at the sensation. That was too weird. I ran my tongue over my front teeth to verify that they were okay. Besides feeling a little tickly they were still their old selves.

I took the strap off of my neck and put the saxophone back on its stand. If that was what it took to get the stupid thing to make a noise then I was not doing it again. A little more wary, but still curious I avoided all of the instruments with the same looking wood thing on it and moved over to the all metal ones.

I picked up a trumpet. It had the least amount of button things to deal with and looked like the easiest to hold. Despite how it looked however, I was once again confused on where exactly to put my fingers. I tried to remember how they held it in all of the cartoons I had ever watched and I think I got relatively close to the right way. Cautiously I brought the instrument up to my mouth once again and gave it a little air.

Nothing.

Officially more than a little frustrated I blew harder and harder into the thing, but no matter how hard I blew all I got to come out was the sound of rushing air. I even put my teeth up against the metal part and tried it that way. Even that didn't do anything. Finally I put the instrument back when I was out of breath and too frustrated to keep trying. I had pressed all the buttons, I blew lightly and really hard, I tried it with and without teeth, but I just could not get it to do anything. After putting the trumpet back I walked towards the door to the hallway. I was wasting my time, and I still had a lot of the mansion to look at.

I closed the door behind me and walked down the hall towards the next one. Having to pause for a moment to figure out which way I was headed. Hopefully, the next room would have something that I had a clue about in it.

* * *

I yawned and waited for the vending machine to give me my Coke. Yes you heard me _Vending Machine_. I came across my first one a while ago. It had tons of snacks in it and it was exactly what I needed. When Vlad said it wasn't impossible to get lost, he should have said it was impossible not to get lost. I had no clue where I was or how to get back to the kitchen and the food storage room to feed myself. I had gone a long way from where I started and I was still working out how exactly I would be getting back to the room I was staying in. I figured the Vending machines were here so that if you were this far away from the kitchen, there weren't any maids or butlers around, and you were starting to think you would die from starvation roaming the halls like I was, it would solve at least one of your problems.

You didn't have to put any money in it, you just pushed the buttons and walla, delicious fatty snack food, here I come. I picked my Coke out of the machine and kept walking along. I needed the caffeine, I was starting to get a little tired and I needed a boost. Numerous clocks had informed me it was 3:46. I had no clue if I was anywhere close to the last room in the mansion. A while ago I had wondered if the rest of the rooms were just empty because I couldn't think of any other purposes to have a room that I hadn't already seen. Leave it to Vlad to prove me wrong. Since the instrument room I had come across three more kitchens, six more guest rooms, another library, an art room, a planetarium and a telescope room (I was so going back to both those places they were _awesome!_), the boiler room, a mini indoor water park, a bar, a game room, a poker room, a chess room, a sun room, a conference room, a vault room, a computer room, a spa room, a virtual mini hospital, the supplies and storage room, a room with nothing but files in it, a records room, a prism room (rainbows were all over the place!), a garden room, a photography room, a hunting room, a trophy room, a writing room, a roller rink, a bowling alley, a tennis court, a racket ball court, and a fine china room.

I took a sip of my Coke as I made it to another door. They had peaked my interest because the double doors were metal and not wood like all the other ones in the hallway. They didn't; have handles either; they had push plates like they had for bathrooms sometimes. Screwing the cap on my Coke I pushed the door inward to see what was on the other side.

I knew it was something big as soon as I opened the door. You could hear tiny sounds echo around. Using my night vision again I quickly located the light switch, or really the light 'switches' there were at least twelve of them all in a row. I flicked them all on sequentially. It was a second before the lights came on and when they did they were still a little dim because they weren't all the way powered up. Though the lack of light did nothing to take away from the shock of what I found.

It was a gym, at least five times as big as the one at the high school, and it had absolutely everything in it. I walked into the room and stood on a track that encircled it. Directly in front of me was every sort of weight lifting equipment a person could think of. In pure shock I moved forward to look at all of it.

I was relatively familiar with how all of the stuff was supposed to work. Not long after Dash had been assigned as my 'Fitness Buddy' I had started phasing into the weight room at school and started working out on a regular basis. As stupid as Skulker was he had made me realize that I couldn't always rely on my ghost powers. Plus Vlad had that 'Plasmius Maximus' thing which could take away my powers too. Even though an Olympian wouldn't be able to do much against Vlad, it would be nice to be able to run away at a fairly decent speed, especially without tripping.

The weight room at school had been enough at first, but as I worked out more and more, my ghost strength became more integrated into my human strength. It got to the point where to get a good work out I was piling all of the weights I could find onto the weight bench and then lifting the entire bench with the weights on it. A little while after, even that wasn't enough o break a sweat. I ended up just seeing how long I could go before I had to call it quits.

As I trained more too, I realized that my ghost half and my human half's strengths were connected. The more I trained in my human half the stronger my ghost powers got. It wasn't long before I was training not so much to keep my human half in shape but to make my ghost half stronger. I found myself not getting winded as easily and having more energy to spare. I even figured out that the longer I can hold my breath underwater, the longer I can stand the effects of my ghostly wail without passing out. I could hold my breath for a good three minutes now and it definitely paid off.

I walked over to the pile of weights that was sitting next to one of the benches. Expecting to be able to lift it with relatively no trouble it clanged to the floor leaving a decent sized dent when it was heavier than I expected. A lot heavier. Like there was no possible way this was a regular weight.

Expecting the extra weight now I picked up the disk and looked at the number that was engraved on it. 500lbs. I wondered if there was an extra zero, the weights this size at school were only 50-25lbs. This was definitely not a normal weight. I gently set the weight back down on its stack. It looked normal enough. It was shinny chrome that glinted under the florescent lights. By the looks of it the one I had picked up was only one of the smaller ones.

I finally figured that Vlad needed a lot more weight to work out too, besides the fact that he had ghost powers his arms were huge. I could lift a good two tons and that was with my skinny little arms. Deciding that the weights were a mystery I wouldn't be able to figure out right now I went on to explore more of the gym. My footsteps echoed over the linoleum and I walked over to a basketball court. It was bigger than the one at school and the hoops were higher, though there wasn't a ball in sight. I spotted a door behind the hoop closet to the wall and went to check it out.

I opened it and quickly figured out where all of the balls were. Basket balls, volley balls, base balls, and bats, tennis balls, golf balls, footballs, soccer balls, rugby balls, kick balls, every kind of ball you could think of was on some sort of shelf or in a basket. I closed the door making a mental note to see if he had any really big balls like they did at school later. You know those one's that are as tall as you and are covered in rainbow fabric? I figured out a while ago those were perfect to kick around if you wanted to practice catching really big things. More often than not in my ghost fighting I ended up trying to catch some sort of awkwardly shaped thing and it wasn't ever the weight that made it hard to catch, it was the size.

I turned and walked across the basket ball court over to where I saw two rings hanging from the ceiling. I recognized them from when my mom made me watch the gymnastics during the Olympics. I snorted when I got closer and realized they were hanging over a foam pit. It made sense I guess I just really didn't see Vlad as a foam pit sort of guy. There was a platform that was at least twelve feet tall next to the pit and stairs so that it was obvious you were supposed to walk up to the top and jump off into the pit bellow. Feeling a little impulsive I quickly ran up the stairs and stood near the edge of the platform. Standing at the edge of a twelve foot platform probably would have at least made most people uncomfortable but I felt right at home. This was really nothing compared to what I did on a daily basis, and for me there usually was not a nice soft foam pit at the bottom. It had never happened that a mattress truck was driving by whenever I fell off a building, like it did in the cartoons.

I jumped off of the platform and whooped as I fell toward the foam pit bellow. I sunk about three feet into the cushy material. The foam fought with me as I tried to flip over so I could breathe properly. I finally just transformed and flew out of the stuff. It was practically eating me alive and it was impossible to get anywhere in it. I quickly transformed back to my human half and went to explore more of the gym. There was a balance beam, some bars that you could swing around on, that horse thingy with the two handles, a spring board, and a large area that was just nothing but mats.

From the top of the platform I had spotted an in ground trampoline. I leisurely walked over to it and a smile unconsciously creep onto my face. The trampoline was huge at least the size of a swimming pool and the ceiling was high to accommodate. Sam had an above ground trampoline and I would practice my flips and landings on that sometimes. I liked to keep in practice with that so when I was thrown into something I knew how to orient myself so that I landed on my feet before I hit the ground.

Plus jumping on it was really fun.

I eagerly stepped onto the black surface. It bowed under my weight and I lightly pranced my way to the middle. Wasting no time at all I started gaining momentum. Two feet, three feet, five feet seven feet, I was easily sailing ten feet in the air in no time. I twisted my body through the air and enjoyed the sensation of free falling as I descended. My feet confidently made contact with the stretchy black material and I could feel all of my weight sink to my feet, the skin on my face pulled downward like it wanted to slide off. I had a little more trouble keeping my mouth closed than normal. Almost as quickly the tension in the fabric was shooting me upwards and I was sailing through the air once more. I flipped myself over so I was headed towards the trampoline head first. I stretched my hands out in front of me and landed in a handstand as I made contact with the trampoline. Bending my arms to absorb some of the impact I pushed against the trampoline to send myself flying through the air again. I flipped about three times before my feet made contact with the stretchy black fabric once more.

I put myself through the paces I did flips and twists, I landed on one foot at a time then one hand or the other. Soon enough I was done going through a regular training cycle and I had mostly lost my sense of up and down. I was easily shooting myself twenty feet into the air. Finally I just let myself fall flat on my back and waited for myself to stop bouncing. The trampoline tossed me up in the air again and again until most of my momentum was gone and I was just moving a couple of inches up and down, not even leaving the black surface.

When I was little I thought that jumping on a trampoline was the closest I would ever get to actually flying. I thought that falling towards the black surface was what flying felt like. Once I actually could fly I found out I was dead wrong. Jumping on a trampoline and flying are not even close to the same thing. When you fly you're in control you can do all sorts of things, it' so liberating, you can't feel the pull of gravity on you, and you feel like if gravity can't touch you than nothing can. You almost become a part of the air itself. You feel like you can just let the wind take you and everything would be alright. You can feel completely safe because you can control every aspect of your movement and gravity isn't there to hold you down.

I had come to a complete stop now and I was just catching my breath letting my heart rate settle. As I laid there on the trampoline I let my eyes close and realized how tired I was. I was tempted just to stay there and take a small nap right then. Vlad would laugh at me though if he found me in here sleeping on the trampoline. I begrudgingly hauled myself up to a standing position and figured I was done exploring for today. It was about time that I headed back to my room anyway. Maybe I could get one of Vlad's butler people to make me a sandwich.

There was really only one way I was going to find my way back to the room I was staying in, and even then it was probably going to take a while. There was a reason the fruitloop did everything, and that didn't exclude what he had said this morning. The plan was for me to fly through the roof and make it back to Vlad's front porch. I could phase through the door from there and make my way to my room or at least find someone to point me in the right direction. I transformed into my ghost half and adopted a spectral tail. A little impatiently I phased through the ceiling of the gym.

And into a blank white room.

Okay, I was sort of sick of looking at rooms by this point and the one I had just discovered was making me extremely pissed off for seemingly no reason. For one thing it was all white there was absolutely nothing else in the room besides this random black square on the wall. The room had seemingly no purpose, and there wasn't even a door. I figured it was just extra space that the fruitloop didn't know what to do with.

I was about to get moving again when I sensed ecto energy. My head immediately snapped into a clear focus. All of my muscles tightened and I was put on high alert. I instantly put up a shield and a blast the size of a basket ball slammed into it.

My ghost sense doesn't just sense ghosts; it more specifically senses ecto-energy. After I had worked on it enough I could sense smaller amounts off it, like ecto blasts. It came in handy a lot. The energy that came from an ecto gun or even a blast fired from another ghost wasn't enough to trigger my whole ghost sense but it was enough that it showed up on my radar. I perked up slightly as I heard a computerized voice.

"Unauthorized ecto signature detected. Initiating termination sequence." At least fifty guns popped out of the walls around me and started to power up, the combine energy was enough to send a shiver up my spine. There was a high pitched whine as they prepared to fire.

"Awe fuck!" BOOM! The blasts rammed into my shield and shattered it without a problem, leaving me a smoking pile on the floor. All too used to being assaulted like this; I jumped out of the way in time to avoid the blast that was following the first one.

Crap, I wanted to take a nap not be target practice! I had to get out of here at the rate these blasts were coming at me I was only going to be able to hold up for so long. I dodged again and headed for the wall at top speed planning on phasing my way out. My head contacted sharply with the wall instead.

"Damit!" I rolled out of the way in time to avoid another blast erecting a shield to block the next one when I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. They were coming at me in second intervals. I cursed and flinched at my luck when another blast hit my shield breaking it. Though the blast wasn't strong enough that it continued on through the shield to hurt me. I cursed again at the wall that wouldn't let me through it as I dodged yet another blast. I was betting Vlad stole the wall thing from my parents. I darted out of the way of another blast and reflexively fired a shot at the gun that made it. I nailed it and the gun was reduced to a pile of burnt metal on the floor.

The smoking pile of metal sparked a plan in my head. Okay maybe I would get out of this; I just had to get rid of all the guns first. Without being shot at constantly maybe I could figure a way out, or to shut off the walls. I rolled out of the way again and hopped into the air as I fired at another gun putting it out of commission. I got a cocky smile on my face as I got another one with ease. I could destroy the guns easily enough.

I let a hail of ecto energy rain down on the guns in the room like I was a one man machine gun. I brought my hands together and let a ball of energy quickly grow between them. I swiped my hand back and forth and shot out disks of energy like I was dealing out cards. Soon enough every gun was down and I was floating in the middle of the room triumphant. Honestly I was a little surprised it had been that easy.

"Really Vlad that's it? You really need to upgrade your…" I trailed off as I watched the gun mounts I had destroyed retract into the wall and new functioning guns replaced the old ones.

"Awe come on!" I dodged yet another blast and kept moving the explosions of missed shots trailing behind me. I watched as I destroyed guns and they were replaced numerous times. I was already losing energy considering I hadn't had anything substantial to eat in a little under ten hours. Sweat trickled off of my face as I continued to fight the room. I had been checking when I could get the chance and I still couldn't phase out of the room. I felt completely trapped and I didn't feel that way very often. No matter how many guns I shot down there were at least three there to replace it.

"Shit Vlad. This is not cool!" God why didn't he tell me about this? He practically sent me walking right into the freaking death trap. He was the one who told me to explore the house! I dodged and moved out of the way of another blast. I zipped around the room at top speed making shields and blasting guns constantly just to keep from becoming a piece of charcoal. As I flew around I franticly tried to come up with another plan. Everyone I came up with seemed to have some sort of flaw of loophole. Finally I figured there was only one thing left I could do and if that didn't work I was pretty sure I was stuck in here until I ran out of energy or Vlad came to find me.

I concentrated and let out a battle cry as I quickly fired at all of the guns in the room so that they were once again all broken and unable to fire. I hurriedly landed on the ground and moved to one of the far ends of the room in the brief silence I waited for a few second for all of the guns to replace themselves.

"Here goes nothing." I sucked in a huge breath of air filling every last crevasse of my lungs and then sucked in some more. Only when I felt like my lungs were going to pop did I unleash my ghostly wail. Immediately, the guns started to malfunction; sparking and cracking they powered down and fell to the floor with loud crashes and explosions. The room franticly replaced the guns like it had before only for the force of my attack to almost instantly destroy them. This happened repeatedly until heaps of battered guns were lying around the perimeter of the room.

I was sure it was loud but I didn't hear anything. Whenever I used my ghostly wail I became virtually deaf. My ears automatically plugged up and made things completely silent. I guess it was so that I had immunity to my own attack. The silence was almost a little creepy though because it seemed like I should hear something along with all of the smoke and explosions.

My wail reverberated off the walls. The room started to tremble with the pressure my wail was putting on it. I could feel my energy ebb as it had been a good twenty seconds that I had been going at full power.

Finally cracks started to appear in the blank white of the walls. I had to force myself to keep up the pace, my chest was constricting in pain. I knew I had to keep going though I was close to destroying the room altogether and that was the only way I was getting out of here. Slowly dust started to shake off of the walls as little pieces of it crumbled to the floor.

Finally it the walls completely collapsed and revealed what was hidden behind them. All sorts of machinery started to fizzle and spark under my wails assault. The black square cracked and shattered to the floor like it was glass; revealing a room behind it which wasn't spared once it was exposed to the brunt of my most powerful attack. I kept forcing myself to continue even though my body was screaming at me to stop. I could feel hot fire squeezing at my chest as I started to feel dizzy and my vision became blurry. I could only stop once I had destroyed all of the machines.

I panicked a little when I felt myself start to transform back to my human half. I knew then that I was going to have to stop soon. I still needed energy to at least fly out of the mansion I could walk to the front porch. Everything around me was smoking and flashing I figured I could take a chance and save myself the energy so once I could get out of here I would be able to. I cut off my wail and fell to my knees. I sucked in a new breath of air and collapsed completely to the floor; letting myself transform back to my human half to rest.

Much to my satisfaction nothing started shooting at me when I stopped even after I had waited a couple of minutes. The dust settled as I caught my breath and tried to get my heart rate under control. I knew my voice would be a little hoarse after that much strain but it wasn't anything that wouldn't clear up in a day or two. I struggled to sit up and survey the room around me.

Behind the white walls were plain cinderblock ones, which were sporting a couple of cracks themselves. I was sitting in the only clear area of the room. The area fanned out from where I was sitting. The power of my wail had prevented anything from settling directly in front of me. It basically looked like a bomb had gone off. I winced as I realized Vlad would probably not be too happy with this. There wasn't any hope of trying to cover something like this up. I had no clue what the room was for but it had to have been important, none of the other rooms started attacking me. Vlad was going to be mad when he found this, that much I was sure of.

What was I supposed to do though; wait for Vlad to get home and rescue me? For all I knew I could have been bar-b-q by then. I sighed and hauled myself up to a standing position. I had to steady myself as I got a slight head rush. Once I got my bearings I forced myself to transform to my ghost half and fly to the ceiling. I tested it to see if I could phase through it. My hand easily defied physics as it usually did. I sighed and floated through a couple more floors before I was outside. Welcoming the cooling breeze I headed towards the front door to try to find my way from there. From what I could tell the rest of the house was still intact after my wail. At least I couldn't see anything that looked like it had been destroyed. That was good that meant that the destruction was confined to one room and Vlad would most likely be less mad about it. Who knows maybe he wouldn't come across it for a couple of days. His mansion was freaking huge and the room didn't even have a door on it. I floated invisibly towards the front of the house to avoid being seen by gardeners who were working outside. I let out a yawn and tried to stay airborne at least until I could get to the front porch. I looked down at the house again, and really you couldn't tell that I had almost passed out by using one of my most powerful attacks. I bet I'd be safe from Vlad for a while.

At least I hoped.


	12. Chapter 12: Honey I'm Home!

AN/: Well don't you just love how there is no ryhme or reason to how quickly i update? Isn't it jsut peachy! I know it's weird but what can i say, something came over me today and I just could not stop. This is another one of those chapters I'm not sure how I feel about yet. I think Vlad might be a little off. Though I do try to explain his behaviour a little at the end. I'm really excited about the next chapter. I don't want to give anything away so i really can't say much more than that. There are a couple of things i would like to address before you all get started with this chapter.

-Fisrt off someone asked me about a Twighlight Danny Phantom Cross over and i cannot of the life of me figure out who it was. If you were the person who said somethign to me recently about that please PM me or somthing so i can get a hold of you.

-second, go read "Taking Action" by spirtmind675. it freaking rocks. (Don't let her fool you with her authours notes it was mostly her own creation!)

- Jads, Dude, i'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet I promise i will get something to you tomarrow!

-Lastly. If i ever don't update this story for a long time and you want to know what's up. I plan on posting excuses on my Profile. So if you're ever wondering what is taking so long. Go read that.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 12: Honey I'm Home!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originaly Uploaded: Thursday, July 7, 2010, 10:03PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

I apprehensively stepped inside the front door. When I couldn't see Daniel anywhere I was put on edge. Though I had to remind myself that he would not be waiting for me to get home like a six year old would. He would most likely be in his room. I had to convince myself for the millionth time that day that he was still here; he had _not _changed his mind and run away. That wouldn't happen. He was the one who had come to me. _He _chose to be here there was no reason for him to leave. The small clacking of high heels got my attention as a maid approached me from the hallway to my left.

"May I take your coat and brief case Mr. Masters? I can have it brought up to your private study. I would have been here to meet you at the door but you came home a little early today." The maid almost had a knowing smile on her face. The laughter in her eyes made me wipe the overly worried scowl off of mine. Though I wasn't successful in removing it all together I was able to make myself look somewhat dignified.

"Yes Stacy that would be lovely. How did everything with Daniel go while I was away? Was he fed lunch?" I gave her a look that said her answer had better be yes or I was not going to be happy. I frowned slightly when her smile flickered for a moment.

"Yes he did eventually run into one of us and we were able to make him something. Though it wasn't until later in the day. I can assure you Mr. Masters that when 12:00 came around we did look for the boy but we could not find him, he proved to be especially elusive. When he did approach us we made sure he had at least half of what was on his plate. He has been well fed and refused to eat anything else claiming he was full, even when we offered to make him something more to his tastes." Stacy nervously smiled and fidgeted with the edge of her white blouse. I internally cheered. He was still here! He hadn't left and decided to go somewhere else! He was here willingly and even after he had a chance to clear his head, he hadn't left. I had a very strong urge to hug the maid in front of me but that was quickly repressed. It would be unseemly. I stiffly nodded her away and she seemed relieved to have been dismissed. She hustled away with my coat and brief case.

I sighed. I had been restraining myself all day from picking up the phone and calling to see if he hadn't run away; if he was still there. Would he still be there when I got home? Was he going to get lost? Would he run away? Would he get his 'senses' about him and go to stay somewhere else? I shook the thoughts from my head once again and started to walk towards the stairs that lead to Daniel's room. It was foolish to base hope on what others had said. I would never just believe what I was told I was going to go see if he was there myself. I needed to check; to see with my own eyes that he was still here.

I quickly hustled up the stairs and towards the door that lead to the room Daniel had been staying in. It only took a minute but it seemed like forever before I made it to the door. I stopped in front of it and composed myself. If Daniel _was_ in there and I burst in like I had just run a marathon I would never hear the end of it. I lightly pulled my shoulders back and rested my hand on the doorknob slowly twisting it open; pushing it inward with a soft click.

There on the bed under the covers was a small lump rising and falling. A patch of raven hair was sticking out of the covers and a soft snoring was coming from it. My heart rate shot through the roof, adrenalin was being pumped into my system, and an uncontrollable smile broke out over my face. My hand shaking, I lightly closed the door to the room.

I leaned my back against the wall and breathed heavily. H-he hadn't left? He was still here? He was still here! I sank to the floor my legs unable to hold the rest of me up anymore. Relief flooded through my veins. He was still here. He wasn't going to leave. I put my hand against my thumping heart as I chuckled airily to myself. I still couldn't believe it. There was no way it was possible. It went against everything in our past; everything we had established before this point. I had wanted this for so long. I had gone to so many lengths to have this boy willingly in my house and all of them had failed.

Yesterday he had arrived on my doorstep and even then it would have been unbelievable had I not had him constantly in my sights and heard his reasons for being here. I was positive that today while I was away he would have fled; that he would have remembered who I was and left. And even despite all of that, there he was.

He was still here.

I repeated it over and over in my head forcing myself to believe it. I had seen it with my own eyes. What I had strived for, for so long was finally true. Daniel was here, in my house, willingly living with me. My face was starting to hurt with how hard I was smiling, and I found myself not really caring. Daniel was here. He was still here.

My heart rate slowed and my breathing leveled out. I finally realized I was on the floor and got up to dust myself off. I was tempted to go in and wake the boy up to talk with him but he really did need the sleep. He would need it for the next couple of days I suspected. If what I had read last night was any indication he was not used to such amounts of sleep and I was not going to deny him rest that he sorely needed.

I almost went down to tell Eduardo to start diner but I hesitated. I should wait for Daniel to wake up to have diner. I had decided last night that we would be having as many meals as it was possible to have, together. If it was one of the things he had specified in his journal that he missed, I was going to make sure to do it.

So now I was met with the dilemma of what to do until Daniel woke up. I really was at a loss of what to do. I hadn't had to take anyone else's circumstances into consideration for a very long time. I pondered lightly for a moment. I supposed I could work on the things I usually did after diner. It wouldn't hurt to get started on my training session while Daniel was asleep. It was far enough away in the mansion that he wouldn't hear anything. In addition, I could work on putting a lesson plan together so I could be prepared for when I finally got around to teaching the boy about his powers. I couldn't help as a smile renewed itself on my face. I actually had to keep myself on the ground as a feeling of weightlessness rose in my stomach.

My actions decided, I walked into the guest office across the hall and pressed a button on the video intercom to get Eduardo's attention. A picture of a glimmering kitchen appeared before I spoke.

"Eduardo?" there was a clanging of pots and pans as I heard a couple of grumblings. Not long after a pudgy darkly tanned man stepped into view. He was in the classic chef's attire and held himself leisurely. His face was heavily wrinkled, suggesting he had spent many hours out in the sun. Though his most prominent feature was an enormous handlebar mustache that curled up at the ends; accented with bushy black eyebrows.

"Yes, Senor Master's, what can I get for you?" the man's English was good but he still preferred to cling to the Spanish accent within his speech.

"Eduardo, hold off on making diner today. I would like to wait until Daniel wakes up. Speaking of which would you send a maid to fetch me when Daniel does wake? I will be in the gym." Eduardo nodded obviously before he responded.

"Why of course Senor Master's. It's no trouble at all. I will send Tiffany to watch for when the Niño wakes up. Have a good time in the gym Senor Masters."

"Thank you Eduardo." I pushed a button on the video intercom and ended the conversation. Now all that was left to do was wait. I transformed into my ghostly counterpart and quickly phased my way to the gym where I briefly hovered above the trampoline before I went through the ceiling,

And into a war zone.

I fell shortly to the floor in surprise. Everything was destroyed. The wall I had built to withstand even my most intense of energies was reduced to rubble. The room smelled of burnt rubber and smoke. I whipped around to find the control room exposed and in the same state as the rest of the space. I slowly surveyed the room around me and was left speechless, only I or some other equally as powerful ghost could have done this damage to the room. Moreover, I was the only one authorized to be in here. Any other ghost would have been assaulted by weapons as a defense mechanism, but all ghosts knew not to come to my house let alone try to go through my training room. My breathing stopped as the possibilities ran through my head.

_Daniel. _

Oh my god. He could be hurt! Who had done this to the room while I was away? Did he try to fight someone that powerful while I wasn't here! I told him to call me if anything happened! Had he been able to get to a phone! Was he even conscious! Pure unadulterated panic played out in my head. Someone powerful enough to destroy the walls of this room had been in the mansion _with _Daniel and I hadn't been here to do anything! I had to know if he was okay I had to know what had happened and who had done this!

I skipped flying all together and teleported directly to his room. I briefly noticed the boy shiver but I didn't really care all I wanted to know was if he was okay. I started to approach him to wake him up as I said his name.

"Daniel!"

It all happened in a brief second. The boy's eyes snapped open and they glowed a bright toxic green. His face was shrouded in concentration as he locked his gaze on me. He let out a battle cry as he launched himself from the bed towards me. The split second he was in the air he transformed and powered up his fist in time to land a charged punch directly to my jaw. I was thrown briefly to the side, though not completely to the floor like the punch was obviously intended to do. Daniel stood next to me in a battle stance breathing heavily about to fire another blast before realization seemed to fall onto his face.

I merely stood there staring at him as I whipped the small trail of ectoplasm from the corner of my mouth. I watched as he stood back up fully and the blast faded from his fist. A small silence occupied the room before he spoke.

"Uh, he-he. Hi?" Daniel nervously rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the room skittishly. The surprise still had yet to fade from my face. I transformed back to my human half the urgency obviously having left the situation as I registered what just happened. He was obviously not hurt and did not take kindly to being woken up by a ghost. I pulled my hand away from my face and saw the blood on my hand. Daniel changed back to his human half and thumped to the floor. As he spoke next he stuttered a little.

"H-here I can help you with that. Um, j-just let me get a towel…" Daniel nervously scooted along the wall towards the bathroom; never turning his back to me as he moved. I briefly heard the water running before he came back out. He held two hand towels, one was soaked in water and the other was tied in a small ball like it was holding something. Daniel nervously inched towards me and held out the towels for me to take.

I was confused on one part why he was still acting like I was going to retaliate when I had made it obvious I was going to do nothing by changing back to my human half. On the other part I was extremely puzzled over his reaction to being woken up. This wasn't the first time he had jumped out of bed in a battle stance; though the last time it had been nowhere near as dramatic. I merely stared questioningly at the boy for a moment before I took the towels he offered to me. I was surprised when it was obvious the towel that was in a ball had ice in it.

"Is there ice in here?" Daniel avoided my questioning gaze and rubbed the back of his neck nervously once again.

"Y-yeah, you know, uh, ice powers…" I raised my eyes skeptically and whipped the blood off of my face with the damp cloth Daniel had handed me. Having stopped my schemeing some time ago I had also stopped spying on the boy as heavily. I was unaware he could do such mundane things with his ice powers. I set the dirty towel aside on a nearby desk and untied the knot holding the ice pack together. Inside there were several intricate ice crystals that would rival diamonds. They all glowed slightly with a light blue hue. Daniel ripped me from my marveling at the small crystals when he started to speak.

"I can make you some regular ones too, i-if you don't want those." I looked curiously back at the boy cowering in front of me. Still confused as to why he was acting so sheepish.

"Regular ones?" He nodded a little as his hand snuck its way back up to his neck.

"Yeah, uh those have ice energy in um. Just so they don't melt as fast. It's not very fancy but it keeps them from melting all over the towel and getting you wet, and they stay colder than regular ice. But if you want warmer ice I can make that too, i-if you need it." I blinked a few times at the teenage boy who was standing awkwardly before me obviously scared I was going to get mad at him. It set in that the boy had just asked me if I wanted my ice warmer and I couldn't hold back an amused chuckle. I however quickly quelled myself as I noticed the boy subtly shrink away from my laughter. Though I could do nothing to hold back the smile that had crept onto my face as I spoke

"I'm assuming you're fine then?" Daniel gave me a confused look.

"Why wouldn't I be fine?" I finally settled down and set the ice in my hands down next to the dirty towel.

"Oh it's nothing I over reacted I suppose, just some nonsense with my training room." I caught Daniel wince when I mentioned the training room. I turned around curiously, "Do you know about what happened in my training room?" Daniel's pupils dilated slightly like a trapped animal as I looked at him curiously.

"Training room? I-I wouldn't know anything about a destroyed training room. Why would I know about that?" Daniel really was a horrible liar. I would have to teach him how to lie properly sometime but for now,

"Daniel I never said the training room was destroyed." Daniel's jaw hung open for a minute before he tried to stutter out an excuse.

"W-well I mean I just assumed that if something were going to happen that it would involve something being broken. I mean-

"Daniel really you are a terrible liar. Now tell me what you know about why my training room looks like it was hit with an atomic bomb." Daniel averted my gaze and shifted around awkwardly. He half started sentences but was avoiding getting to the point.

"Well you see it was kind of… And I really didn't… It wasn't on purpose and…." I rolled my eyes at the teens antics. I demanded he tell me what it was he knew in a flat tone of voice that worked on most of employees.

"Daniel." I watched in satisfaction as he shut his mouth for a moment and caught my gaze only briefly before he started telling me what had happened.

"It wasn't my fault okay! I didn't know what to do! I was just flying out of the gym trying to reorient myself so I could get back to my room. You didn't tell me there was a syco room in your house that attacks people! I was just defending myself, and I could only think of one way to do that at the time. I mean really what did you want me to do, wait until I you got there? I could have been burnt toast by then! I'm sorry about your room but it was shooting at me and it wouldn't let me out so I did what I did to get it stop! I mean you've got money right? You can fix it and it's not like-

"Daniel!" I abruptly cut the rambling teen off and let out a baffled chuckle as I put my hand to my forehead. He looked panicky around the room still avoiding my gaze as I registered what all the boy had said, meant exactly.

"Are you telling me that _you _did that to my training room?" I raised an amused eyebrow as I waited for the boys reply. I barely would have caught his response if I wasn't paying attention.

"Well, yeah." My eyebrows shot up into my hair line.

"Daniel really now do you believe me to be that naive? There is no way that you could have destroyed that room, at least not on your own. You just simply are not powerful enough. Now please tell me who else was in that training room. By being in there they have trespassed on my property." I was still skeptical if not a little frustrated. I didn't know if he was trying to protect someone from getting in trouble but it was clear he knew more than he was letting on. Surprise played out over the teens face. His mouth opened and closed for several moments, creating a rather accurate impression of a fish before his surprise was replaced with indignace.

"You don't think I'm powerful enough?" He looked at me clearly insulted. I sighed this was not going well.

"No Daniel, I don't think, I know. Those walls were built to withstand the harshest of my attacks and we both know that I am more powerful than you. It's only a logical conclusion. I mean it in no offense I'm just stating the facts. Now we can stand here and argue about something we both know is true or you can tell me who was in the training room." Shock still played out on Daniel's face though now it was accented with anger as he waved his hands above his head.

"It was me! I was in the training room _alone_. I have more than enough power to tear down your training room thingy. Nobody else helped me I was by _myself_!" Daniel was clearly insulted with the fact that I knew he couldn't have done that much damage on his own. Really though it was no big deal.

"Daniel, it really is nothing against you. You will, in time, be just as powerful as me. I'm not trying to insult you dear boy I would just like to know what ghost thought it was a good idea to come into my 'territory' uninvited. I can't have ghosts that powerful coming in and out of this mansion at their lesuire they would wreak havoc if gone unchecked!"

"I wasn't wreaking havoc I was defending myself!" I exhaled heavily and dragged my hand down my face. The teen was so stubborn.

"I'm sure you were Daniel. Now tell me who was in that room. I will not stand for this nonsense!"

"I WAS!"

"DANIEL!" I cut off our conversation in order to allow Daniel and myself to regain control of our emotions. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed before I spoke next in a low calm tone of voice.

"Daniel, let's suppose for a moment that it was you who-

"It was!-"

"Let me finish!" My hands were fisted at my sides. This boy was going to need to learn some serious etiquette if he were going to continue to live under this roof. I let out a frustrated breath before I continued, "Let's suppose that it was indeed you who destroyed my training room. Then do pray tell exactly how you managed to cause so much destruction on your own?" At my question the anger was immediately removed from Daniel's face and replaced with fear and uncertainty. He went back to shuffling around nervously as he had before. I waited patiently for whatever response he was going to make up. Upon receiving none I continued.

"Precisely. Do you see the flaw in your clever ruse? Now I will give you one more chance to tell me what exactly happened in that room this afternoon or I will be going to the security tapes and finding out for myself, and you will be washing the dishes from what Eduardo cooks tonight for diner. Don't think that a simple task either, that includes all thirty four sets of dishes that the mansions staff use to eat as well." Daniel's eyes got wide at the threat and he seemed to be calculating the pros and cons of the situation. I gave him a moment before I decided he was taking too long to come to an obvious conclusion.

"Very well, I will inform Eduardo not to touch the dishes after tonight's meal." I then turned on my heal and went to leave. I did not know how things operated in Jack Fenton's house hold but there would be consequences for disobedience under my roof. I was about to reach for the door knob when I was interrupted.

"I used my Ghostly Wail!" I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly back around to face the teen causing me so much trouble He was clearly uncomfortable with having said the information. Most likely because he knew it was a lie I was not going to swallow. Especially with a name like that.

"Your Ghostly Wail?" The teen sheepishly nodded. Fine then if he wanted to play that game then I was going to humiliate him for it.

"Well then since I seem to be unfamiliar with this particular ability of yours, would you care to demonstrate?" I swept my hand across the room inviting him to use the space for his supposed 'Wail'. The teen merely looked at me like I was insane.

"Wait you want me to do it right here? Like inside? Do you care whether your mansion survives? I mean yeah I wouldn't have had any problem tearing it down before, but I sleep here now. I'm not going to demolish my own bedroom!" If Daniel thought he was going to get out of showing me this apparent ability so easily he was sadly mistaken.

"Well then where would you suggest we stage this demonstration?" I rolled my eyes when he actually seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Well you live around a lot of fields. If we could find an empty one that was big enough that could work." I perked up with fake cheer.

"Delightful I know just the place!" I quickly phased into my ghost half and without waiting for the boy I flew towards the field behind the mansion. I briefly heard Daniel exclaim something before I was phased into the next room. He caught up soon enough and we were quickly exiting the back side of the mansion. I motioned to the field in front of us as I spoke.

"I believe this should suffice." Daniel only looked at me exasperated.

"Vlad there are cows in this field!" I briefly regarded the cows that occupied the field. They lazily chomped away at any tuff of grass within their reach whilst standing in their own filth. They were quite barbaric animals really.

"Your point?" Daniel gaped openly at my response. A cow mooed in the distance failing miserably in making the situation any less overwrought. Daniel acted as though he were about to start shouting before he seemed to think better of it, and he exhaled loudly instead.

"Here I'll find a field." He then proceeded to adopt a spectral tail before he shot himself into the sky. I watched the black dot as he scanned the land below him. Eventually he stopped and emitted several green flares. I took this to mean he had found a 'suitable' place to practice and that I should follow. I sighed with indignation before I teleported to the teens side.

"Whoa!" Daniel recoiled largely as I appeared next to him. A hefty ecto blast formed in his hand before he realized he was in no danger.

"Feeling a little skittish today are we?" Daniel growled a response.

"Just warn me when you're going to do that. Here you see that field?" Daniel pointed to the largest one directly in front of us. It looked as if it had just been harvested. He continued without waiting for me to respond, "That one should work. My Wail will be a little weaker than usual since I already used it at full power today and I only got two or three hours to rest. Common." If I wasn't mistaken Daniel was becoming excited about the prospect of showing me this 'Ghostly Wail'. Slightly intrigued I followed the excited teen. Perhaps he was not lying about possessing this ability, if his emotions were genuine.

Daniel landed on one of the far sides of the field at the very edge and proceeded to back up so that he was as far back towards the property line as possible. I landed just a little in front and to the side of the teen to wait and see what he would do. He only gave me a quizzical look once he saw I planned on standing where I was currently positioned.

"Um Vlad your going to want to stand behind me." I raised my eyebrows at the teen.

"Daniel I'm sure I'll be fine where I am, or else how will I see what exactly you are doing?" I was thrown secretly for a loop when Daniel started to laugh of all things.

"Vlad really just get behind me, or at least next to me. I am_ not_ carrying you all the way back to the mansion." Daniel's face adopted a look of disgust as he said his last comment. I rolled my eyes and annoyedly complied with the teen's request.

"Very well then; just to humor you dear boy." I begrudgingly moved so that I was level with the teen, I crossed my arms impatiently and waited for him to start. He still however was finding something wrong with how I was standing.

"Vlad you're going to want to cover your ears. I know it's not going to be as powerful, but if you plan on standing right there you really need to. At least if you value your ability to hear." Really now? Did the boy think he was going to boss me around so easily?

"Daniel, I will be fine, now quit stalling and get on with it. I'm starting to believe that you can't even do this 'wail' in the first place." Daniel merely shook his head.

"Fine, but you can't say I didn't warn you. Are you ready?" He looked at me as if genuinely asking if I was prepared. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't the one who was going to be doing anything; I had no clue why he was asking if I was ready. I replied bored

"Whenever you are dear boy." Daniel frowned once again before he nodded and turned to face the open field. I watched with a slight interest as he planted his feet firmly into the ground and he heavily braced himself. He held his arms up by his sides and his hands were coiled into fists. He let out a sigh before he said.

"Alright here' goes." I raised my eyebrows as he proceeded to suck in gallons of air. Then without a glance back towards me he opened his mouth in a scream.

"!" Immediately my hands snapped up to cover my ears to block out the immense noise. I reflexively took a step back from where I was standing so that I was farther behind Daniel. Though moving out of the way didn't help with the noise much; it did allow me enough reprieve to focus more on what exactly the boy was doing. I watched in awe as enormous green waves emitted from the boys mouth. I now understood why he had prepared himself in such a stance. His feet were being shoved into the ground with the force he was using.

The destruction even in an empty field that the waves caused was immense. The power the boy was currently displaying was far more advanced than anything I had ever seen him use before. A trench was quickly carved directly in front of the boy in the ground as the blast excavated a large area of dirt in front of him; sending earth flying everywhere. The dead stumps of plants harvested were quickly forced to the ground and flattened like someone had rolled over them. The cracking of timber, though faint in comparison to the commotion the boy was making, caught my attention. My gaze was drawn to a small line of trees that separated this field from another at least three hundred yards away. I watched in absolute disbelief as one by one trees fell under the boys assault. The field of corn in the neighboring field swayed under the pressure.

Finally Daniel cut off his 'wail' and dropped to his knees. Complete and utter silence met my ears besides an annoying ringing. I stared at the boy panting on the ground. I watched as a drop of sweat fell from the boy's forehead to the ground. A ring of white light was not far behind and changing him back to his human half. After a brief moment of neither of us saying anything the boy looked up at me, and spoke between breaths.

"I know… it's not… very big… but I'm…. still tired… from earlier." Not very big? He thought it was _not very big_? I quickly sobered myself up before I asked one of the many questions flying around the inside of my head.

"If this was what resulted from you at less than full power than what is the full potential of this attack?" The boy caught his breath for a moment so he could answer properly.

"I dunno. It varies depending on what's in its way. When there isn't; anything to absorb the impact it goes further until it either spreads out enough or runs into something else. Like those trees over there." Daniel briefly took his hand away from his knee where it was supporting his weight to flail it around in the direction of the demolished trees. After the boy was done explaining I asked another question.

"How often do you use this power?" The boy shook his head before he spoke. He moved to sit completely down on the ground so that his legs were sprawled out before him and he was leaning back on his arms.

"Only as a last resort." The boy's voice cracked horribly and he went into a coughing fit after he managed to choke out the end of his sentence. I winced at the boys hacking, it did not sound pleasant at all. I briefly wondered what and if I was supposed to do anything in this situation. Getting him back to the mansion seemed to be appropriate.

"Daniel, here let's continue back to the mansion hm? You clearly need some water and we can't get any out here." In the middle of my suggestion the boy started to cough once again. He covered his mouth as his chest heaved with his hacking. I went to move towards him and he held his hand up to stop me. His coughing finally settled down and he wiped his mouth.

"Okay, water sounds good." The boy the proceeded to heave himself onto his feet only to sway like a drunken man. It was only because I caught him in my chest that he did not end up face down in the dirt. He stood himself up straight and tried unsuccessfully to hold himself upright without the support of my arms.

"Just give me a minute, got a little head rush. You go back to the mansion, I'll meet you there." I briefly stared dumbly at the teen as he repeatedly leaned onto my shoulder for support. Really it was times like these I debated whether the boy was mentally stable.

"Daniel you are not making it back to the mansion by yourself." He looked at me like _I _was crazy.

"Whatever Vlad I've had way worse. I'll be fine just-" The boy cut off once more with another fit of coughing. I rolled my eyes secretly worried about the teen. I bypassed asking for any sort of permission as I took the teen bridal style in my arms and made my way into the sky. Daniel was unable to retaliate because of his current coughing fit until we were at least fifty feet into the air. Far too late to do anything about being carried if he didn't want to fall.

"You don't have to carry me Vlad. I'm not a baby." Daniel crossed his arms and looked away from me. I only sped up slightly as I crossed into the cows pasture behind the Mansion.

"Yes Daniel because you made it so obvious you were capable of making it back here on your own." Daniel merely grumbled to himself as we phased through the walls and back to his temporary quarters. As soon as we were in his room he stumbled out of my arms and onto the mattress. He coughed lightly before asking,

"Hey how about some of that water you were talking about?" I shook my head before I transformed back to my human half and made my way to the video intercom by the entrance to Daniel's room. Pressing a button, I once again called upon Eduardo.

"_Yes Senor?"_

"Eduardo would you send up a pitcher of ice water and a glass to Daniel's room?"

"_Certainly. It will be right there Senor Masters."_ The conversation was abruptly cut off as me and Daniel were left to wait for the water to get here. I turned to face the young teen only to be troubled when I saw he was clutching his neck. I became worried when I saw him steadily breathing in and out; his eyes closed in concentration. I spoke as I approached the teen.

"Daniel do I need to take you to the infirmary? Can you breathe? Here sit up, you shouldn't be laying down like that." Daniel's eyes opened curiously as I came over to him and shoved more pillows behind his back. He actually rolled his eyes at me as he took his hand away from his throat.

"Ice powers Vlad. I'm just cooling my throat down. It's like Sam and Tuck say, I'm like a walking, talking," Daniel briefly paused upon noticing he'd mentioned his friends, "ice pack…" I was about to say something in response when Tiffany pushed the door open with her hips holding a pitcher of water and two glasses. She spoke briefly as she moved to set them on the table that sat by the arm chair.

"Here is the ice water you requested Mr. Masters. Is there anything else you need." She glanced nervously to Daniel who was now holding back coughs on the bed in order to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Of course that was working out wonderfully the way he was practically seizing with the effort. I sighed and created an alibi for Daniel's condition.

"No that will be all Tiffany. It just seems as if the trip here is finally catching up with him. It's only a sore throat. Now if you please?" Tiffany nodded definitively, her curiosity seemingly cured as she left the room.

Before she could even close the door I had poured Daniel a glass of water and was placing it in his hand. He immediately chugged the glass down loudly and had it finished within seconds. His face betrayed some of the relief he felt as he leaned over to set the cup on the bedside table.

"Thanks, that helped a lot." I finished pouring a second glass before I handed it to the teen. He didn't inhale it this time merely taking a small sip off the top. I was somewhat worried about the teen and I wanted to know exactly what was going on. Now that he was safe I could go about getting answers properly. I found it awkward to stand over the teen so I moved the arm chair closer to the bed before I sat down.

"Daniel do you always get like this after you use that power?" the teen looked briefly surprised at me through his glass before he brought it away from his mouth to answer.

"No it rarely ever happens actually. It's only when I use it a lot that my throat gets irritated. I've used it twice today and I wailed pretty hard both times. Why does it matter?" a flicker of acknowledgment passed over my face as I recognized the teens attitude about his own well being from his journal. I sighed before pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Daniel if you got like this every time you used that ability I could not allow you to subject yourself to it. I can't let you go around hurting yourself." Daniel actually scoffed.

"Gezze Vlad last time I checked you were perfectly fine with throwing me into walls and putting me through a little pain. It's just a sore throat anyway; it's mostly gone now." I internally winced at the boy's accusation; it was true. I had put the boy through a lot in the past. However the way I understood things it was my responsibility to look after him now that he had come to me. Especially after getting a little insight into the teen's life from that journal, my opinions had changed, the circumstances had changed. In the silence that occupied the room I internally debated the best way to explain this to Daniel and if I should at all.

"Daniel, why did you come here?" The teen looked somewhere between depressed and confused at the question. He never the less answered.

"Because I didn't have anywhere else to go." I shoved the fact that I _still _didn't know why he wasn't trusting his friends to the side for the moment and continued.

"You could say you were looking for a refuge correct? A place to hide?" The teen nodded now clearly more confused than depressed which in my opinion was a good thing, "You are here Daniel, because you needed a place to provide you some protection. However when I accepted you into my home I did not merely plan on letting you fend for yourself. You live in my house now Daniel, you are my responsibility. When I said I would take care of everything Daniel, I meant it. That includes making sure you are healthy." There was a very long silence that followed my short monologue where the teen fidgeted awkwardly with the glass he held in his hand and I studied him for his reaction. Finally the boy opened his mouth to speak.

"I still don't understand why you care now when you didn't before. What's so different between now and then." My eyes softened at the boy's question. This one was easy enough to answer.

"Because Daniel unlike in the past _you _came to _me._ You put your trust enough in me to ask me for a place to stay. The least I can do is prove that trust is well founded. What you gave to me when you arrived on my doorstep Daniel; was an opportunity to prove what I have been telling you for the past two years; to show you that I don't want only hurt and turmoil for you. That I really will understand better than anyone else could ever hope to. I can and will take it upon myself to take care of you as long as you need it Daniel. Ultimately that is what you offered to me by coming here." I could tell the silence that followed was awkward to Daniel. I had to say that it was for me as well. I suddenly felt like I had no place in the child's room. Getting up I moved the arm chair back to its proper place before I moved towards the door. However, I stopped as I briefly remembered something.

"You saw me use the intercom yes?" the boy briefly nodded, "Whenever you are ready for dinner the code to contact the kitchen is 225. Eduardo will let me know when you're ready." Without a response from the boy I softly closed the door with a subtle 'click'.


	13. Chapter 13: Life is Like a Box of Chocol

AN/: Awe you guys have been giving me the silent treatment lately and it makes me sad. *sad face* I'm not sure if you guys think i need to pick it up a little bit or if you think my story is getting worse or what but you make me worry with your scilence! This is of course discounting the few of you who _did _review. and for those few i would like to say thank you so much. I give you a million dollars and a real life version of your favorite cartoon hearthrob! Um i can't really think of anything else to say. This chapter is a little shorter, i really like it. I think it's realistic and stuff, or i tried to make it that way. guess i really just hope that you like it and that you review. *shrugs shoudlers*. alright lets get on with it!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 13: Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originaly Uploaded: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 11:36PM_

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**Jazz's POV**

I had to take my foot off the accelerator once again to get below the speed limit. My nerves were getting to me and it was showing in the lead foot I had inherited from my dad. I glanced back at the speedometer as it fluttered over seventy. I would get there soon enough, I did not have to be like my Dad and break traffic laws.

I guess I hadn't even realized I was going that fast because there were no other cars around. There was nothing but me, the road, and a lot of cows. I was happy to be alone right now. Really I was happy to be anywhere that wasn't in the vicinity of my parents. I really just didn't want to deal with them right now. I was still wrapping my mind around the fact that they were as crazy and obsessed as I had originally thought them to be. I mean with the stuff Danny and I have been through and the things they've done to him in his ghost form. I decided a long time ago that if it came down to this I was on Danny's side, no question.

I don't know how to explain what happened between us when I found out Danny had ghost powers. It was like we both knew that we would never betray each other. We would always have the other to lean on. I was actually thinking about our relationship one day when the perfect symbol of what it was like popped into my head. I remembered this scene from the movie "Forest Gump"; the one where Bubba and Forest are in Vietnam. Bubba and Forest lean on each other's backs so that they don't have to sleep in the mud. That was exactly what me and Danny had only way stronger. I would die for Danny, and Danny would die for me. We both knew it with our hearts.

I perked up slightly when I spotted the massive structure I had been looking for in the distance. I still had a ways to go though. Quickly, I ran through all of the arguments I was going to pose in my head. If Vlad did know where Danny was then there was no way he was trusting me with that information if he still thought I was on our parents side.

I went over and over in my head how I was I _not_ with my parents. Honestly I didn't want to be a part of that family if that was the way they were going to treat Danny. If our parents were stupid enough to shove Danny away like that and not be there for him when he needed it most, than I was no longer on their side. I was going to be there for Danny no matter what. He had done so many things for the greater good, for the town, for me, that I wouldn't have it any other way.

My red, rusty old car rolled to a stop in front of the massive marble steps. I put it in park and turned off the ignition. Gripping the wheel tightly I took a big breath before I swung the door open and got out of the car. I quickly popped the trunk before I closed the door. Moving to the back of the car I lifted the lid of the trunk to reveal my own personal ghost arsenal.

Danny wouldn't let me leave for college without it. I had thought he was being overly paranoid at first, but now I was grateful. I was not going anywhere near the fruitloop unprepared. The jack-o-nine tails, the Fenton peeler, the ghost staff, the Fenton bowie knife; I was armed to the teeth with whatever had been in my trunk. I frankly felt a little like Rambo as I made my way up the steps.

I was almost to the top when a piece of bright red paper caught my attention. I took a detour on my way to the door to pick it up. It looked like it had been blown into a small pocket of space between the railing and the massive planter sitting in front of it. When I got closer I saw it was an open brochure. It had a picture of a map on the inside. I briefly skimmed the paragraphs written next to it and deduced it was a short detailed history about the mansion and Vlad's rise to riches. I folded the brochure closed and looked at the front. _The Vladimir Masters Estates._

Something in my gut was telling me this was weird. How the heck did something like this get here? If there was one thing I learned in my short stay with Vlad it was that he kept his house immaculate; every square inch of it. Something like this wouldn't have been tolerated. Did he know it was here? Why would Vlad need this? Had it blown over from across the road? There was a place to park for tourists across the street; although that was a really long ways away, and it was unlikely that it would have happened. The way the wind was blowing it would have to have been dropped on the porch for it to have been stuck in the place I had found it.

I took a closer look at the brochure. If Danny had taught me anything from all of his paranoia it was to not ignore your instincts, and right now my instincts were telling me that something wasn't right. The map on the inside covered a big area, all of the major highways surrounding Vlad's house and then some. There was a little star where the town of Emerson was, like the person using this brochure would have started there. I knew where Emerson was, we passed it on our way to Vlad's from our house. Dad always stopped there to use the bathroom even if he didn't have to go. The brochure was still weird though. The most I could figure out was that someone traveling along the same highway we used to get to Vlad's house had left it here…

My heart literally stopped as it hit me. C-could Danny be here? I looked from the brochure to the mansion. I didn't really know what to think. A part of me couldn't believe it. Danny was constantly on about how evil Vlad was, and yet. There was always that hidden something in his voice, like he was really impressed with the fruitloop. I had only picked it up after my first semester at college and my professor had us do this huge report on our relationships with our enemies, but it was definitely there.

I folded the brochure and stuffed it into my pocket. He wasn't at Sam or Tucker's, he wasn't at Valarie's, he wasn't at my dorm; this _was _one of the last places he could be. Still I wasn't convinced. It was hard to believe. Though there was only one way I was going to find out for sure.

I rapped the giant loin knocker which was surprisingly light for its size, and waited for someone to answer. It was only a few moments before the door opened.

"I'm sorry do you have an appointment? I don't believe Mr. Masters was expecting any company." The woman that greeted me skeptically at the door was obviously not Vlad. It took me a moment to regain myself.

"No I-I don't have any appointment." The maid was quick to cut me off after I had answered her question; clearly not very pleased with the prospect of heavily armed, uninvited guests.

"Then I will have to ask you to come again at another time. Mr. Masters is a very busy man and-

"Jasmine." A low growl interrupted the maids forced cheerful tone. Not a moment after the foreboding voice Vlad appeared in the threshold. He seemed to loom in the doorway. His glare was dark and it said that I was clearly uninvited. The way he seemed to radiate power and anger raised goosebumps on my arms. I was very glad I was loaded down with weapons. Even then I think the only thing keeping me on that front porch was the thought that I might find Danny by staying. Vlad silently dismissed the maid who scurried off, almost like she was leaving me to fend for myself; it felt like that anyway. Vlad's voice was coy and deadly as he addressed me.

"I am a very busy man Jasmine, I'm afraid I have no time for guests. You may leave and come back _only _when you are invited." I had to remind myself to breathe after Vlad spoke. When I said I could feel power radiating off of him I was not kidding. My clothes were getting all staticy and the ecto energy in all of my weapons was reacting and getting hot.

I had to do this for Danny. I would do anything for Danny; this could be one of the only ways I would ever find him. It was possible he was inside and I couldn't just leave him here if that was true! I forced my mouth to work. Trying desperately to put some sort of confidence behind my voice and failing miserably.

"V-Vlad, listen to me. I'm looking for Danny." I stopped when I saw his eyes flash red.

"The last time I saw Daniel was the time your idiot father insisted on dragging me along to a fireworks display for the fourth of July. Now Jasmine, I do believe you know when you have overstayed your welcome." I could tell he was only barely restraining himself from doing something horrible to me. I didn't know why he was being so hostile, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with Danny and the fact that I was here looking for him. I swallowed my fear one more time before I started speaking.

"Vlad I don't know where he is. I need you to help me find him. I know you spy on us, you have to have some sort of trace on him." After I finished there was a very dangerous silence where I could do nothing but fruitlessly try to avoid Vlad's piercing gaze.

"Goodbye Jasmine." Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Vlad reached for the door knob to shut it. My heart rate sped up as panic set in. I felt the stiff piece of paper in my pocket. Danny could still be in there! I had to do something. I had to know if he was there. My breathing suddenly stopped as the solution hit me.

There were three things Danny would never ignore, that if he was within earshot, he would come to. Three things that would always make Danny come running to the rescue. His ghost sense, the sound of an explosion, and if someone screamed-

"GHOST!" Vlad shot me a look that seemed to have been from the face of the devil himself as he paused in closing the door. One second, two seconds, three seconds passed after I had screamed and still no Danny. Vlad was about to open his mouth to say something when my world went green. I jumped slightly before I realized what was around me. It was a shield. My eyes went wide as I stared at the familiar swirling green. I watched the black blob that was Vlad just outside the shield turn around.

"Daniel?" Before I knew what was happening a familiar white hair was coming through the green wall. He was all the way inside the shield when he seemed to snap out of it, and realize who exactly it was that was standing in front of him.

"Jazz?" he whispered; clearly confused. I wiped a tear away from my cheek as I answered.

"I told you I'd find you, didn't I?" Danny walked towards me a relived and comforting look on his face.

"Jazz you're here? How did you find me? Stop crying. I'm okay. See I'm right here." Danny's shield dropped as he hugged me tightly. There were very rare situations that warranted hugs between siblings. Though it was kind of awkward at first I was glad Danny decided this was one of those situations. I had been worried out of my mind.

"Daniel you will step away from her this instant and tell me what is going on!" Danny's grip tightened around me protectively before it loosened and he let go; though he still remained between me and Vlad.

"This is my sister Vlad! She's not here to waste me! You knew that she accepted me. She did a long time before now. Does a certain human/ghost shield encased football stadium ring any bells?" Danny seemed mad at Vlad though it was clear he wasn't going to attack. Vlad sighed but was still on edge.

"Daniel I will stand down when you explain what is going on to me. How do we know she isn't here to take you back to your parents?" They both paused and looked to me; Vlad with a look of extreme suspicion and Danny with a look somewhere between hope and fear.

"I'm not here to take Danny anywhere. I just wanted to know where he was, if he was safe, and to see if I could help him." Danny's look became a mix of sad and grateful while Vlad still remained suspicious. I wasn't surprised when he continued to try to get me off of his property.

"Yes you now know where he is, as you can see he is perfectly safe, and he is obviously in no need of assistants. Now, if you would take your leave." I could have sworn I heard Danny growl before he snapped back at Vlad in a warning tone.

"Vlad, she's my _sister_! If she's not welcome here than neither am I, so cool your jets fruitloop! She probably knows what's going on with my parents and has a plan to help me out!" Vlad's eyes flashed at the pet name. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one side as if he were scolding a small child.

"Very well then, Jasmine please do inform us of how everything is going at home." I looked to Danny and caught him glaring at Vlad before looking to me with a cautious curiosity. I sighed. I knew this wasn't going to go well. I looked nervously between Danny and Vlad. I knew I had no place to be the hostess in Vlad's house but…

"Here this would go better if we sat down."

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"Danny are you okay?" I stared worriedly at Danny on the giant black leather couch. He sat resting his elbows on his knees. His head hung between his shoulders. He didn't blink or respond to my question. I briefly looked at Vlad as he shifted slightly. He was sitting next to Danny on the same couch.

I found that weird. Something had obviously happened between the two of them because Danny didn't protest. All he did was look at Vlad to acknowledge that he was sitting down next to him. Vlad knew the general situation of what had gone down already too. I didn't know yet whether the fact that Vlad knew that was good or bad. He seemed to be taking care of Danny, almost obsessively the way I caught him looking at Danny a couple of times while I was talking about our parents and Sam and Tucker. I hadn't gotten very far with the talk about Sam and Tucker though. I didn't give anything away to Vlad either. All I said was that they didn't mean it and they were sorry. Danny only glared at me, clearly asking me to drop the subject. I sighed but dropped it anyway. He didn't need to be pestered right now. However, I did want him to say _something._

"Danny please." Danny, if at all possible, collapsed on himself further before he looked up at me. His eyes were shinny and I knew he was only barely holding it together. His face got red as he talked to me.

"My own parents Jazz. They were about to kill me... and it wasn't even just their initial reaction. Even after everything was explained to them they still hate me." Danny's head dropped as he went back to focusing on holding back tears. I immediately went into big sister mode and got confidently out of my chair. I stood directly in front of Danny and put my hands on his shoulders forcing him to sit up. He still let his head hang.

"Danny look at me." My tone was almost angry as I talked to him. He slowly moved his head so that he could look at me out of the corner of his eye. I got on my knees so that I was closer to his eye level and I was looking more directly at him, "They are not _my_ family anymore Danny. I am not going to associate myself with them if that is how they are going to treat you, and you shouldn't either. Do you remember that talk we had a long time ago Danny?" He only looked sadly at me so I continued in that slightly angry tone of voice, "_I_ am here for you. _I _will always accept you for who you are. You are the coolest person I have ever met. I will _not_ tolerate you thinking that you are anything less than what you are. I will always be here Danny. The world is not going to end. They aren't the people who you think they are. Our parents have changed, and they aren't our parent's anymore." I finished my little spiel and Danny looked at me for a moment longer before he let his gaze fall back to the floor. I let go of his shoulders and sat back down in my chair. There was silence for a moment while Danny stared at the floor. Vlad and I exchanged glances over Danny's hunched back. Vlad only raised a speculative eyebrow at my speech, while I sent a glare back.

He could back off. I knew how to talk to my brother. It wasn't my job to be his mother. I wasn't going to coo at him and tell him everything was alright when it wasn't. I was his sister. It was my job to make sure he go the facts straight. Danny sighed getting our attention. He hoisted himself up to look at me.

"Jazz what am I supposed to do now? What do you do after something like this?" I watched as Vlad opened his mouth. I quickly cut him off.

"You can't do anything Danny. It's going to take time and it's going to hurt but you have to let them go. They aren't the people who took you out for ice cream when you fell out of the tree in the back yard. Those people are obsessed and psychotic ghost hunters who are more prejudiced than Nazi Germany. You can't go back there Danny, you just… can't." Danny held his hopeless gaze to mine for a minute before he ran his hand through his hair to rest it on the back of his neck.

"What's going to happen to me Jazz? Am I supposed to hide in a bunker for the rest of my existence? I can't let our parent's find me, either half of me. I can't go to school anymore. I can't save people. I can't be seen. What's going to happen to my life?" He looked at me like he already knew half of the answers. I'm pretty sure he did, I was just going to fill in the blanks. I took a breath and looked between Vlad and Danny before I spoke.

"I think you should stay with Vlad." I went ahead and let them both swallow that for a second. They both looked surprised. Vlad recovered first and before I could stop him he cut in, clearly annoyed.

"Yes that was already the established plan." Danny glared at Vlad before he turned back to me confused.

"Okay I know why I planned on staying here, but what made _you_ think I should stay here?" I took out my headband and put it back in as I responded. This was going to be weird.

"I would tell you to stay with Sam or Tucker, but even without the fact that you all seem to be going through a thing, I doubt that their parents would accept you into their houses without questions. You can't stay with me. I don't have the space or the money to take care of another person, as much as I wish I could. Vlad isn't anywhere near Amity and he can keep you on the down low for an undetermined amount of time. He has the space and the recourses to take care of you. I stayed here once too and I know he's capable of making sure you are comfortable. You're already here anyway, and you seem to be standing each other. I think, until we can get anything else figured out, that this is the best arrangement." Vlad had a satisfied smirk on his face; though he was clearly irritated with the fact that Danny had asked me about what he should do. The fruitloop still had a lot to learn about Danny; especially the fact that we came as a package deal. Danny was the first to say anything after I was done explaining myself.

"I guess…that's what I'll do then." He looked uncertainly to Vlad who only nodded as if it were obvious. Danny looked over to me and I smiled sympathetically, he mustered up a grin back before he placed his hand awkwardly on the back of his neck. There was a weird silence that occupied the room, as none of us really was sure of what to do next. Just for something to do I glanced at the clock. Wincing I realized I could only stay a couple more minutes if I wanted to make it back to me dorm before it got dark. I opened my mouth to speak and both pairs of eyes automatically snapped to me. I shook it off and continued.

"Danny, I can't really stay much longer. I have to get back to the dorms before it gets too dark or they won't let me in without having me pay some sort of 'late night fee'." I felt like I had been punched in the gut with the brief rejected look that fell over his face. Hastily, I apologized. "Danny I'm sorry, you have my cell number. You can call me whenever you want. I'll even pick up during classes! It's just that-

"Thanks Jazz, that means a lot to me. I know you can't stay forever. It's just…hard." Danny's gaze fell back to the floor. A pained look fell over my face at his words; however that was replaced with anger when I caught sight of the teasing smirk that covered Vlad's face. I still needed to have a word with him, alone.

"Hey Danny would you go get my weapons and stuff from your room. I don't know where it is and it'll be quicker if me and Vlad can just meet you at the door." Vlad wouldn't let me come in the house with all of my weapons and had made Danny hide them in his room.

Danny looked curiously at me, I gave him a look that said 'just do it'. He returned one that said 'I know you're up to something, but fine, just be careful'. After we had had our silent conversation Danny nodded and got up off the couch.

"Alright I'll meet you guys down there. I haven't figured out this place entirely yet either, so don't be surprised if it takes me a minute before I get there." Vlad got up as he spoke and Danny moved towards the door.

"I'm sure you'll find your way just as quickly as we will Daniel." At Vlad's words Danny sent me another look but I just rolled my eyes.

"Okay enough stalling let's move already. I really don't have an extra twenty bucks to spend because I got back to my dorm after 12:00." Danny sighed before he finished exiting the room, leaving me and Vlad behind. Vlad jumped on the opportunity to get in the first word.

"Well Jasmine I must say I'm quite surprised. I was under the impression that you had a particular dislike for me. I'm flattered with your suggestion." Vlad had that stupid 'know it all' smirk on his face. I only scowled as I stood, and said what I needed to say.

"I only think he should stay here because it makes sense. It's the only place he has left to go. You've put me and my brother through a ton of crap Vlad. You had better do right by him. I swear to god if you do anything to hurt Danny when he's like this, if you take advantage of him. I will make it my personal mission to make your life a living hell." I don't care if Vlad could waste me, I was going to let Vlad know that I was going to be there if he decided to do anything. Vlad only smiled as he responded.

"Jasmine you of all people know that I am an opportunistic man. There is no need for such threats. Though I may have to do something about them if you insist on such hostilities." Vlad's eyes flashed red and unlike before I wasn't shrinking in my shoes. I stood up a little taller and narrowed my gaze.

"You can try to scare me all you want Vlad, but it won't work. I would _die_ for Danny. I'm just doing my job, by making sure you know yours. He's giving you a chance Vlad, one chance to prove to him _and _me that you're not the manipulative fruitloop you've proven yourself to be. This is just the friendly reminder not to screw it up." I didn't wait for his reply. I strode to the door and briefly opened and closed it before I made my way down the hallway. I knew where I was going. It was a straight shot from here to the front door.


	14. Chapter 14: Me and My Cat Like Reflexes

AN:/ okay a couple of things today. 1) I will be heading off to band camp in four and a half hours. 2) this isn't really how i want to publish it but i felt really bad about not posting for a long time so you guys get this, which is sort of in a limbo between a final draft and a rough draft, untill I get back from Band Camp. 3) I'm going to do that major overhaul I've been talking about after Band Camp as well, and after that the whole story, including this chapter, should flow better. alright that's really all i have to say today.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 14: Me and My Cat Like Reflexes

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, July 26, 2010, 2:59AM_

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**IMPORTANT:** Okay to understand this chapter you need to know some of my theories about how ghost powers work. Okay so let's say that something is intangible. I believe that if i become intangible also, I could touch that object. Mainly because that when you turn intangible, you really switch to an intangible plane. so you should, in theory, be able to touch things that are also on the same plane as you. Same goes for invisibility. If I'm invisible, i should be able to see other invisible things. it's kind of like a double negative. However things on the intangible and invisible planes can also see and touch things on the regular plane we exist in all the time. I don't know why, but it makes things easier. On with it!

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**Danny's POV**

I meandered my way down the hallway not a hundred percent sure where I was going. I had to re-memorize the way to the dining room after Vlad had moved me to the room I had picked out. I was only guessing I was headed the right way. Yup, there's the ugly painting of the turtle; I was headed the right direction.

It was currently 5:23 in the morning. Now, the reason I was up at this ungodly hour was of course, because of Vlad. It had been six days now, that I had been at Vlad's house, and every morning since I had been here (except for the first one) he had insisted that I get up and have breakfast with him before he went to work.

At five forty-five in the morning.

The one time he had gotten me up at 8:30 was a fluke, apparently. He had been running late or something like that. Said he had a late night; whatever. I just didn't understand why there couldn't have been a late morning to match. He usually didn't have all of those people fussing over him either. That was another "running extremely late" thing.

Now, on a "usual" morning he would come into my room at 5:10, wake me up, tell me to be down to breakfast in twenty minutes, and leave me to get ready. After I got down to breakfast he would proceed to try to get some sort of conversation out of me; which really was a waste of time. If the sun wasn't up, and a ghost wasn't attacking, I wasn't going to be doing much of anything besides existing. Usually he laughed at me and how tired I was. Then after he left, I would go back up stairs and sleep until about 2:00PM. That was how things had been goin' down, and that's why I was wandering the halls with my eyes half open. I just had to stay awake through breakfast, and whatever Vlad was trying to get me to talk about; then I could go back up to that cloud of a bed and sleep like any sane person would.

I passed the third hallway, counted five doors and grabbed the doorknob of the sixth. Maybe if I was lucky today, I'd get the right door on the first try. I opened it up and internally cheered when I found a ridiculously long table with a forty-two year old man reading a paper at the other end. I dragged my feet and made my way to my chair. Tiredly, I pulled it out and sat down. I briefly glanced at what Vlad was having today. Looked like French toast with some sort of egg thing; whatever, as long as I didn't have to come up with what I was having. I heard a door open behind me.

"Same." I said without turning around to see whoever it was that had come out to see what I wanted. There was a moment before the door closed. Vlad wasn't saying anything and it was quiet, so I took the opportunity and closed my eyes; I was kind of sick of forcing them open. It's not like I was using them anyway.

"Tired this morning Daniel?" I exhaled heavily and let my head fall to my chest. There goes the rest my eyes had been looking forward to. I dragged my head up and gave Vlad a half lidded glare.

"Nope, no, I'm totally awake. Here, want to talk about Politics? I mean everyone does that sort of thing at 5:00 in the morning." Vlad opened his mouth to say something back when the door behind me opened again. The maid with the curly brown hair, her name started with a 'T' I think, brought a plate of food over to me and set it down on the spotless white lace table cloth.

"Here you are sir." I grinned a little at the plate of food in front of me. I love breakfast food, how you could get away with eating practically cake and call it a square meal, how you could…

"Daniel." I glanced up to Vlad and he was giving me an accusing stare. The maid looked apologetic beside him. I let out a small sigh.

"Thank you…" I squirmed slightly as I searched for the brunette's name. Vlad was there to 'help me out' in no time. His eyebrows lowered, clearly displeased.

"Tiffany." I nodded slightly and turned to Tiffany, mustering up an expression that looked somewhat appreciative. I really was thankful anyway, and it wasn't her who had me up this early.

"Tiffany… Thank you Tiffany. It looks really good." Tiffany curtseyed slightly before replying.

"My pleasure, I will inform Eduardo it was to your liking." She quickly bounced away to do what she had said. My attention went back to my food. I lazily picked up a fork and had at it. I didn't really pay attention to Vlad as he folded up his newspaper and set it on the table next to his half empty plate. This was one good thing about mornings. I loved the food, and I didn't even have to do the dishes. And breakfast dishes are the worst because you have to get all the syrup off of everything. I was about halfway through my second piece of French toast when I realized Vlad had been staring at me.

"What?" Vlad seemed to ponder lightly how to respond.

"What would you like to do today Daniel?" There was an obvious curiosity in his eyes, like he actually wanted to know. He'd never asked that question before and whenever somebody did ask that question it was because they wanted to do something _with _you. I paused in bringing the fork up to my mouth.

"What?" Vlad rolled his eyes.

"Daniel, it is not such an unorthodox question. I was just wondering what you were planning on doing with your time."

"Why do you care? Aren't you going to be at work?" Vlad sighed; a mix between amused and annoyed. I don't know how he managed that combination, but he did.

"Daniel today is Saturday." My fork was once again halted on its way up to my mouth. Saturday, but that meant that it was the weekend? My eyes flitted from my plate to Vlad and back. He wasn't going to work today?

"What the heck are you doing up at five in the morning on a Saturday!" Vlad's eyebrows shot up in surprise and amusement.

"Are you familiar with the phrase, 'The early bird get's the worm?' Besides I've been getting up at this time for so long I just naturally wake up. I like to get a head start on the day. It's a more productive use of your time and a good habit to get into." I just stared exasperated at the obviously insane man in front of me.

"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'I'm freaking exhausted you fruitloop; let me go back to bed?' God Vlad, aren't you tired? What is wrong with you?" Vlad sobered up slightly with my accusations.

"No, I'm not tired. I got a full eight hours of sleep and that is more than enough. Now I know for a fact you've been sleeping the day away, and I'm not here to let that continue. So I'll ask you once more, since you will be spending the day where I can see you so you will not fall asleep, what are your plans?" I just blinked and stared at the man in front of me. His face clearly declared that I would not be going back to sleep. I looked back down at my half finished breakfast. I was going to need a lot of caffeine today.

* * *

"Vlad do we really have to be out here? I'm being eaten alive." I swatted another bug away as it tried to suck my blood or whatever. The bugs that bit me never lived because my weirdo blood was toxic to them, but it was still annoying that they bit me in the first place.

"It's better than what you were going to do with your morning." Vlad scoffed as he continued to walk along the path in the forest. Yes we were in a forest. After Vlad had learned that I was planning on playing Line Rider all morning, he made me follow him to this big forest a couple of miles from his house. So now we were currently walking around in a forest full of who knows what, when the sun was barely above the horizon.

"Hey, I was staying out of your way wasn't I? Plus that was about all I could think to do at this time of day." I slapped another bug on my arm. Pulling my hand away, I grimaced at the bug guts. I quickly encased my hand in energy to burn it all off. "You could have at least let me put some bug spray on first."

"You seem to have the bug problem under control, and I was not going to let you rot your brain away by sitting in front of that screen all day." I rolled my eyes at the bug comment as I was quick to respond.

"I thought you would have liked that game Vlad. I mean the little stick guy plummets to his death no matter what, you just get to manipulate how he gets there." Vlad sent me a glare out of the corner of his eyes. I smiled knowing I had scored a point in our little game of wits.

There was silence after that. It was kind of weird. I didn't know where we were going and I didn't want to sound stupid and ask. I just tried to focus on not tripping. My eyes were practically glued to the ground avoiding sticks and stuff. Vlad just continued to walk like it was impossible for him to fall; his shoulders back and his hands clasped behind him.

"So what do you plan to be when you grow up Daniel?" I stumbled for a minute as my gaze was ripped from the ground and stuck to Vlad with the weird question. I jogged two or three steps to catch up with him. He of course hadn't stopped when I tripped. I hesitated a little bit, unsure how and if I should answer.

"I dunno, I mean before I got ghost powers I was going to try to be an astronaut, but I mean it's not like that's possible now. All of my grades are in the toilet and I probably wouldn't pass half of the blood tests you need to even be eligible. I haven't really thought about it much. I didn't even really know what I was going to do after I graduated high school, if I graduated high school." I mumbled the last part to myself, thinking that Vlad wouldn't be able to hear me. I was reminded, when he replied, that I wasn't the only one with ghost hearing anymore.

"What do you mean 'if'?" Vlad looked at me, almost scolding, as he continued to walk. I still had no clue how he could do that without falling flat on his face. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

"Uh well, I just told you, my grades suck. I'm lucky if I get a D. I was probably going to have to repeat junior year before I left. I never had the time to study, always too busy with ghosts…. Plus I mean it's not like I can even go to school now. My parents would find me, and I'm not sure I want that happening." I kept my eyes focused on the ground. My parents were dangerous territory.

"You'll be finishing school Daniel. Did you think I was going to let you waste away in the mansion the rest of your life? Education is important, and I will not let it be subjected to sabotage because of your unfortunate circumstance. Especially when I can remedy it otherwise." I stumbled a little bit as Vlad once again demanded my gaze be torn from the ground with his response. Did the fruitloop know what he was saying?  
"Vlad, really, how is that going to work? I mean, my parents aren't stupid, they've probably got a missing persons case on me started. I can't just show up in another school and expect nothing to happen. They'll come and find me." Vlad only rolled his eyes.

"Daniel, you won't register as Daniel _Fenton_. Do you really think me that naive? All you have to do to avoid detection is create a new identity for yourself, and you will be free to go where ever you please." That made sense, but I was still seeing some gapping loopholes.

"Okay so I call myself something different, big whop. I'll still look like me, and I mean don't you need like a birth certificate and stuff to register for school? Where are you going to get all of that? I don't even have my real ones with me. It's not as easy as changing my last name, Vlad." He only smirked in that way that always put me on edge.

"I do believe you are underestimating me Daniel. I have many means of which to procure all of what would be necessary to forge you a new identity. As far as changing the way you look, it is amazing what a simple wardrobe change can do to throw a person off." So that was the reason for the creepy smirk, he was most likely going to do something illegal. I didn't say anything though. If Vlad was going to do something illegal it's not like I could stop him, I never have been able to before. Plus, it had only been six days at Vlad's, but I was already bored out of my mind. Ghosts that I could take my frustration out on were nowhere to be found and school would be a nice distraction, especially from my depressing life.

I thought a little more on the subject. School would be cool. I did want to graduate high school, even if that's as far as I went. I had not forced myself to get up a 6:00 for the past eleven years of my life so that I could have nothing to show for it. I _did_ want a diploma. Still, the whole thing seemed too good to be true.

"Okay but I mean I can't just show up one day and sign myself up. It doesn't work like that." Vlad sighed indignantly.

"Daniel, I will be signing you up. I can pose as your father and you will assume my last name. It will not be as difficult as you make it out to be dear boy, really. I have already taken care of most of the details." I came to a complete stop with the man's words. And when I say complete, I mean _complete_ stop. My brain didn't really do anything. My heart slowed down. I held my breath for a minute, and my muscles refused to move. Vlad got a bout fifteen yards ahead of me before he stopped. I could see his shoulders slump slightly before he turned to look at me. Seeing the man's face made me sputter to life.

"Y-you're not my father." Vlad keep his face carefully blank. He didn't show any emotion as he responded.

"That is not what I said Daniel. I said I would _pose_ as your father. It only makes sense if you plan on staying at my mansion. What other name were you planning on adopting exactly? Did you have any other adults who would let you barrow their last name and let you be their son?" I only stood with my mouth open staring at the man. He didn't seriously think I was going to take his last name did he? Just because I was living here didn't mean I was going to suddenly forget who I was.

The thing was though, he was right. I really couldn't think of what else I was going to do. The truth was if I wanted to go to school, I would need an alias, and that included a person who was willing to pose as my 'father'. My mouth snapped shut as a nat flying by got a little too curious.

"Come Daniel, I think it is time we head back to the mansion." Vlad's voice was as carefully blank as his face. He transformed into his ghostly counterpart. I was still kind of in a numb shock as I mindlessly followed suit and took off after him when he started heading back.

Silently we went back to the mansion. Vlad went his separate way after he knew I was back safely. He said lunch would be a 12:00 and that he expected me to be there. Still a little weirded out over the fact that he wanted me to take his last name; I nodded and was secretly grateful he left me alone after dropping a bomb shell like that. It was only 10:23 when we got back so I got on the computer and decided to play Line Rider until I went down to lunch. It was a game I could play while the rest of my mind was elsewhere.

_Daniel __Masters_?

* * *

Vlad only rolled his eyes when I told him what I had done with the rest of my time before lunch. I really didn't understand what he thought was so horrible about playing a couple of computer games.

"Well fine then. What did you do, discover warp speed?" Vlad seemed slightly annoyed with my jab, I could tell he wanted to roll his eyes again, but that would be repetitive.

"Actually, Little Badger, I managed to get a good deal of paperwork done, and I read a few more chapters of a novel I've been working on." It sounded legit, like something Vlad would do. Jazz was always reading, and just really out of habit other than anything I asked the standard question.

"What book are you reading?" Vlad paused in his eating for a moment to give me a curious look.

"John Adams, the Man History Forgot" I had a vague idea of who John Adams was. I remember learning about him around the same time we learned about the revolutionary war. Still following the usual pattern of conversation that I used with Jazz, I asked yet another question.

"Is it any good?" Vlad just flat out put his fork down on the table with that one. I just gave him a weird look and continued to eat my grilled cheese. After Vlad realized that I wasn't going to say anything he continued our conversation.

"Daniel, are you alright? You aren't up to anything are you? Because if you are I will not tolerate it." It was my turn to sigh. God the fruitloop was so paranoid.

"No, Vlad I'm not up to-

"Daniel." And there was that flat tone of voice again that meant I'd better tell the truth. I put my half a sandwich down and threw my arms up in the air.

"Vlad, I'm not planning anything, honest! God I was just asking you about your stupid book. I lived with a bookworm the first fifteen years of my life, I thought that was how you were supposed to have that sort of conversation, but if it's making you this suspicious then I'll lay off. Keep your weird book stuff to yourself. It's not like I was going to pay attention to what you said anyway." I shook my head a little bit and went back to eating my lunch. Vlad didn't move after that, he simply stared at me while I tried my best to ignore him.

"It's decent." I stopped again and looked at Vlad who was now back to eating his gourmet pita thing.

"What?" Vlad only spared me a glance as he continued to eat.

"The book Daniel, it's a decent book. A little dry at times but otherwise it's held my attention." I just shook my head and went back to my grilled cheese. Vlad could be such a fruitloop. I muttered under my breath, heavy with sarcasm.

"Well that's a relief." I caught Vlad shoot a quick glare at me before he was back to pretending like he hadn't done anything of the sort. I just sighed and finished off my sandwich, taking the last swig of my glass of milk to wash it down.

Well here I was at the end of my lunch and Vlad still hadn't asked me to do anything with him yet. I was still kind of waiting for it though. Sure he had dragged me outside for his little nature hike this morning but I was sure he had more up his sleeve. He always did. And if he was staying home all day there was no way he was leaving me alone.

I could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he wasn't going to say it. I'd bet you a million dollars that he wanted to ask me to do something with him after lunch. I wondered why the heck he wouldn't just force me to do something with him like he always had in the past. The fact never crossed his mind before that I might not have wanted to spend time with him…. Unless he was waiting for me to ask him?

I blinked a couple of times at that thought. Could he really be waiting for me to ask him? That was just so not Vlad though, I mean all of the other times he had just kinda threatened someone's life and tried to get me to participate. Vlad just really wasn't the waiting type for this kind of thing. What the heck was so different about today that he had to go and be all nice about it? I mentally berated myself, everything was different you moron.

I glanced back at Vlad who seemed to be eating as slowly as possible, as if he didn't want to leave the table. Really he couldn't be making it any more obvious that he wanted me to say something. That really sucked, because I had already figured out exactly what he wanted me to say.

To tell the truth I had pretty much met my quota for fruitloop interaction for the day. Things never turned out like I expected them to when I was around him. It got annoying after a while. What the heck was I supposed to do with him anyway? I didn't know what he liked to do, besides his weird Packers football obsession; and I was not playing catch with _Vlad_. Besides picturing Vlad throwing anything for fun being near impossible, that was way too normal an activity to do with your arch enemy. That was something you did with your dad.

I sighed. Well there was one thing that I could think of to do with Vlad. I was just really uncomfortable asking about it because I knew he wanted to do it too. I know that sounds like it should make asking easier, but it didn't. Things are never what they seem around the fruitloop, remember? I mean yeah I really wanted the help and the guidance, but at what cost was I going to get it? If he was going to humiliate me and stuff I wasn't going to ask.

Vlad had taken five minutes to eat two bites. He wasn't going to quit acting all weird until I did something. More specifically, I asked him to do something with him. God this was screwed up. I really wanted the fruitloop to stop acting all weird though. It was making me uncomfortable. It wasn't making it any less awkward to ask either.

I toyed with the idea a little bit in my head. If Vlad could help me with my powers that would so cool. There are a ton of questions that I have to ask him, a million things I want to know how to do; I just really didn't want him to laugh at me. I had worked hard to even get as far as I had without his help.

Then there was the fact that he might not laugh at me that made me really consider asking him. He was acting different somehow, well nicer anyway. It was possible that he might not laugh, or at least keep his laughter to himself. I glanced again at the man sitting next to me. He had gotten through another bite. Somehow I don't think he was going to mock me. He had wanted this too; _he_ had wanted to train me, so he wouldn't make it so that I didn't like it, right? I had so much to gain from him, and it wasn't like I hadn't had him laugh at me before. Plus if I asked him he would stop being all weird, which was really starting to get on my nerves.

I sighed and let my head fall to my chest. I guess it was decided then. Working up as much determination as I could before I could change my mind I keep my eyes on my empty plate and asked the million dollar question.

"So Vlad, what are you doing after lunch?" The effect was immediate, but it wasn't totally obvious. He didn't smile or move in any way to indicate that he was absolutely thrilled with what I had just said, but somehow the change was huge. I could see it in his eyes. More life than I had ever seen in them was suddenly there. They glowed in a way that was anything but ghostly.

"Nothing much really, I was going to call a few of my business associates and work in my lab. Why do you ask?" His voice was the same, but after he spoke there was no hiding that with the eight words I had just asked, I had made Vlad incredibly happy. It was honestly something I thought I would ever see.

"Um I dunno, I was just wondering, you know… if you wanted to do something? I still don't really know my way around, and I've won minesweeper like fifty times now. I can't really think of anything to do." It was a load of bull, but I wasn't just going to come out and ask him. I might have made him happy but that didn't mean this was any less awkward for me.

There was now a small grin that Vlad could not seem to keep off of his face. It was a nice change really. I had never seen Vlad smile. Well not genuinely smile; I had seen him smile evil plenty of times. It was kind of cool, it made him seem more human, more approachable. It wasn't so hard to talk to him when he was like that.

"I'd be more than happy to provide a little entertainment. What were you thinking of exactly?" It was easy to grin back at the genuine smile on his face. It was strange, but it was nice. I could get used to it. It made me feel good too. I was making the famous grouch Vlad Masters, happy. I really didn't know I could do that. It was kind of fun, and made me feel kind of important too. That made it really easy to say what I did next.

"Well, I haven't used my powers in a while." At that Vlad lost any control he had had before then. Immediately a giant smile broke over his face, he whipped his head around the room to check to see if anyone was present before he transformed into his ghost half, walked through the table picked me up and phased through several walls.

* * *

"It's just going to take practice Daniel; it's not going to happen overnight." I sighed before I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I still couldn't make my energy solid like Vlad was trying to teach me. I sat down on the white floor of the training room while I gained some of my energy back.

Yeah we were in the training room that I had previously destroyed. Like Vlad said, it had taken less than a week to get it back up and running. It was kind of a weird room. No matter how many blasts you threw at the walls, it didn't show any signs of wear, not even a scorch mark. It was kinda creepy.

I'd already been through a sort of diagnostic thing. I showed Vlad all of my powers and what I could do with them. He was really good at listening and telling me things that I could do better without making me feel bad. It was almost funny that a few hours ago I had been worried about him laughing at me. He never laughed, well he did but that was only when I told him stories about how I had come up with some of the uses for my powers when he had asked. He had actually seemed impressed a couple of times. I know it's going to sound weird to you but that made me feel awesome. If he was impressed with me when he had had his ghost powers for twenty years, I was obviously doing something right.

It was so weird, there was a part of me that said that it was wrong to be having a good time around Vlad and then there was another part that said 'Hey, why not?' As he spent more time teaching me, and I spent more time learning from him, I saw a side of Vlad I thought didn't exist. It was a non-evil side. A side that was easy to get along with. The side I think my dad was friends with in college. There was no ulterior motive to what he was doing, and it was refreshing.

Right now we were working on turning ectoplasmic energy into solid stuff. He said we should work on this because it was developing an ability with a power I already had. In other words, we would be starting small. He could make swords and VERY strong shields with his solid ecto-energy. I could only make mine into a sort of thick fog. I could make shield with my regular energy sure, but they weren't as strong as solid ones. I huffed and complained at Vlad's previous reassurance.

"Yeah but you can do it! I can already do it with my ice powers; it shouldn't be this hard to get it with my ecto-energy!" I concentrated again and ecto-energy collected between my hands. I focused and tried to get it to solidify. It only took on a foggy sort of appearance before it slipped through my fingers and onto the floor where it dissolved. I exhaled and let my head drop. I felt a hand on my shoulder and my head snapped up to meet Vlad's gaze. It was, believe it or not, concerned.

"Daniel, you aren't going to get any further today without hurting yourself. I already explained how this type of thing works. It's like building muscle; you have to take it a little at a time. Here, why don't we work on your sparing hm?" I furrowed my eyebrows a little.

"What's wrong with my hand to hand combat?" I really didn't think anything was wrong with it. It was honestly one of the things I was better at. I had learned some martial arts form my mom and I was pretty good at getting in a few solid punches. Vlad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Daniel, there's nothing 'wrong' with your hand to hand. I'm simply looking to see if you can't improve slightly." I still didn't understand what he thought was so off about my fighting style but whatever. I guess I could roll with it; I was kind of getting sick of doing this energy thing anyway. I huffed before I got back up on my own two feet and replied.

"Okay whatever. Let's do that." Vlad nodded and had grabbed my shoulders positioning me so that I was directly facing him and not three feet away. He got into an obvious fighting stance and gestured for me to do the same. As soon as he saw that I had complied he said.

"Alright now Daniel I want you to take the first swing." I laughed a little in shock.

"What you want me to just start hitting you?" Vlad furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why what he had said was so hard to comprehend.

"Yes that would be the intention." I stuttered a little and fell out of my fight ready stance.

"B-but I can't just start hitting you!" Vlad sighed and stood up fully as well.

"Why not? I fail to see what is so difficult about the task." I gestured urgently as I replied, trying to get across what exactly, the problem was.

"Because! That's not how it works! I don't ever make the first move. I'm not supposed to. You don't see Superheroes going around and just starting fights; even with the bad guys! They have to wait until someone else starts one and then they go and kick the bad guys butt. I'm not supposed start it!" Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Daniel, this is for training, it isn't real life. You're not going to start anything or break any superhero code, or some such nonsense." I only grew more exasperated.

"I know it's not real, but I just-" In my peripheral vision I saw a black fist coming at me. My pupils dilated as my brain quickly processed the threat. My brain flat lined and locked down. Every thought that had previously occupied my head was gone. I stopped breathing and my vision was unfocused as I was sent straight into 'battle mode'. Nothing but fighting and survival was important now. I was being attacked and I had a job to do. Only three thoughts dominated my mindscape as my vision came back into a sharp focus.

_Protect._

_Defend._

_Fight back._

I dodged out of the way in barely enough time. I could feel the air displaced by the blow move silently by my ear. Now on full alert I blocked the next fist and started moving.

"Very good Daniel, you already know how to be on your toes. Your reaction time could use a bit of improvement though." I didn't register what he had said, only that my enemy had spoken. I silently evaluated which enemy was in front of me. I internally swore when I realized it was Plamius. I really had no chance of winning any fight against him. What I had to do was work on distracting him until I could figure a way out. Even to just do that much I was going to have to fight…and fight hard. I was barely going to get out of here conscious at best.

I had moved out from within striking distance and shifted my weight to my center. My muscles rippled and tightened on high alert. The ectoplasm that made up my ghost form started to gain power. It was the ghost equivalent of adrenaline. Energy was sent en mass to every corner of my body, tightening all of my muscles, sharpening all of my reflexes.

From the last time I had been in here I remembered that the walls were ghost proof. Strategically, that was very bad news for me. I secretly hoped though, that now that Vlad was in here, the walls would let me out. I just had to keep him busy long enough to test my theory. I prepared my body to better take punches as I dove back towards Vlad, hoping to send him to the floor with a punch to the gut.

He easily caught my fist and tossed it aside. I knew it was hopeless to try to fight him, but I had to try. I had to find some way to get him down, even for just a few seconds. I swung at his upper chest and he, once again, only blocked my efforts. It was obvious I wasn't going to get at his front. On an impulse I quickly sprung over Vlad's head, tucking myself into a neat ball in the air before I landed. I threw a fist quickly forward intended for the soft spot between his shoulder blades, only to see that he had turned around and caught my fist once again.

"You aren't going to find any undefended spots on me Daniel, you have to create one." I didn't really hear what he was saying. It was all background noise to my own heavy breathing. The encouraging grin on Vlad's face only looked to me, to be an evil smirk. My eyes flared briefly in anger. He thought he was so much better than me. I knew what he was thinking, that I had no chance of beating him, that I was doomed. I would show him, he wouldn't have me today.

With a flash of icy blue light I had his legs, from the knees down, incased in ice on the floor. I pulled the same trick to get to his back side again and nailed the back of his skull. Jumping away once more in anticipation, I watched as a millisecond later Vlad shattered the ice and turned to face me.

"Daniel, we're just sparing that means that you don't use your powers. It's purely hand to hand." He might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Vlad took a step forward, and I took it as a move in attack. I knew that the ice was going to make him angry. He wasn't just going to take my attacks anymore he was going to send some back. That was _if _I gave him the chance.

I let my legs dissolve as I propelled myself slightly into the air so that I had the high ground. I fired a round of ecto-blasts to halt his approach. He only snapped up a shield and blocked every one of my blasts with ease. Vlad let down his shield to speak, now looking irritated.

"Daniel, stop acting like a child and stop attacking me." I only registered that his shield was down and he was leaving himself open. He was going to get an attack in if I didn't send one his way first. I sent another hail of ecto-blasts down at the man on the floor. I prayed to god that at least one of my blasts made it to its intended target. If it didn't I was just making him more pissed off and that was not good for me, especially if he got me pinned down.

The room flashed green under my assault. I stopped and saw that Vlad had once again brought a shield up to block my attack. I had to think fast, this obviously wasn't going to work. My eyes glowed a chilling blue as I gathered ice energy in my hands, and I sent icicles the size of tree branches down at the red shield. Cracks started to appear in the red dome until a section finally crumbled. I zoomed forward to attack with the opening; my hands ablaze a toxic green. I was there in a millisecond as I shot forward at over two hundred miles an hour. However, instead of landing a punch and zooming past to decelerate in a loop, like I should have, a tight grasp pinned my elbows to my sides.

"Daniel stop this nonsense! Snap out of it!" I squirmed in his grip, totally oblivious to the fact that he looked worried out of his mind. I had to get out of his grip. If I didn't he would probably kill me, or capture me, or something very very unpleasant. Seeing I was getting nowhere with just wiggling, I reformed my legs and tried to land a kick somewhere on Vlad's lower half. He only went intangible to avoid me and forced me to my knees so that I couldn't use my legs.

"Daniel, listen to me!" I squirmed as much as I could to get free but his huge hands held me in place no matter what I tried. If I went intangible he only went intangible also so that I couldn't escape. My eyes glowed an icy blue once more as I prepared to shoot ice beams out of my eyes to freeze him in place. I had to get away, he was going to hurt me, and do something horrifying if I didn't get back up and fight.

"DANIEL I AM NOT ATTACKING YOU!" I blinked several times at what the man had screamed in my face; breaking me from my concentration. My eyes went back to their regular green as I realized Vlad was looking at me with worry apparent on his face. The white room we were in suddenly came into focus; what we had been doing finally registered in my head.

I closed my eyes and exhaled heavily, my head dropped. I tried to get myself to calm down as I realized, that because of me things had gone horribly wrong. I-it was just an exercise. I had to stop. He wasn't going to hurt me. I forced my muscles to relax. In response I felt Vlad's grip on me loosen slightly. I moved my head to look up at him only for the movement to cause him to retighten his hold on me. I winced slightly at his piercing fingers as I stuttered to life.

"I'll s-stop Vlad you can let me go." He only gave me a skeptical look.

"Are you sure you are quite done?" a blush of embarrassment and shame rose to my cheeks and I only sheepishly replied.

"Yeah, I'm done." Vlad slowly released the pressure from his hands until they were just hovering over my arms. Finally he was satisfied that I wasn't going to try anything and he dropped his arms completely.

"Daniel, what has happened to you?" I could tell the comment wasn't directed at me, as he muttered it under his breath. I responded anyway, feeling a lot like I needed to explain myself.

"Ghost's happened Vlad." He only looked up at me before shaking his head.

"Daniel, I know that ghosts 'happened'. I'm only having trouble understanding how you've survived thus far without outside help, and what the blazes could have caused you to be pushed to this extreme without anyone else noticing." Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose seeming to try to keep his emotions to himself. I looked to Vlad's side not really wanting to look directly at him.

"It's a reflex Vlad and it's saved me more than once. There are a lot of ghosts that attack me from behind and stuff. I have to be able to snap into that mind set if I want to keep the other half of my life. Plus, it's only when things take me by surprise. It's not that b-

"Not that bad? Daniel this is not the first time something like this has happened. Might I remind you of when you leapt out of bed your first day here, or how you reacted to the use of ghost powers at the table? Reflexes like that are only grown out of fear Daniel; fear and experience. You cannot deny from me that you are always on alert, that you never put your guard down. I have yet to see you completely relaxed, even though there are no ghosts here to attack you, and no school work to worry you. Even in your sleep Daniel, your muscles tense and react to their surroundings so much; someone would think you were awake. This is no way for a young man to behave. There is no reason for you to have developed such self defense mechanisms. This has to stop Daniel. You can't go on like this." I really didn't know what to think about what Vlad had said. He honestly truly was upset about this. I mean yeah I knew that I was pretty bad but I didn't think Vlad would have had this much of problem with it. Mostly I was worried about how he would react to me attacking him. But here he was making a fuss over how paranoid and skittish I was, like any one of my family or friends would have before I left. The way Vlad was talking just now, it was raw, and it was real. Instead of being upset over the fact that I pretty much blindly attacked him he was _worried_ about me. After Vlad said that stuff it really finally hit me for the first time.

Vlad actually _cared_ about me.

Wow. That was… I don't know what it was. It was new. It was a good change I guess. I watched as Vlad continued to mumble incoherently to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose, slightly hunched over. Well, I really didn't know what to do now. What do you do when someone you thought didn't give two shits about you, actually ends up caring enough to accept you into their home and want to call you 'son'? I guess, I had to start...caring back.

Vlad got my attention when he lifted his head form his hands.

"Daniel, you're going to school on Monday. What you need is people. You have obviously been isolated, though I don't know how you managed it, for quite some time. The sooner we can get you back to regularly anticipating interactions without explosive consequences the better." Vlad held out a hand to me so that he could help me up. I only hesitated slightly before I took it and hoisted myself up. "Here, I believe we are done training for today. I'll get Eduardo to make us and early dinner." Vlad phased through the floor prompting me to follow. We emerged into the darkly lit gym and flew to the metal doors that lead to the hallway. We turned invisible before we went through the doors. We could still see each other though. When you turn invisible you can see other things that are invisible, it's a nice little loophole that has won me a lot of fights. Vlad sighed before he turned to me once more.

"I suppose you're rather tired, you should head back to your room while I arrange for dinner to be made. I'll let you know when it's ready." I grinned a little. Vlad could be pretty good at this whole 'caring' thing when he worked at it. He waited for me to nod or tell him that I had heard him. I did, and he started to fly towards the kitchen. Just before Vlad made it out of earshot I decided to start my 'caring back'.

"Thanks Uncle Vlad." A smile the size of Russia spread over my face as Vlad thudded into the wall instead of phasing through it like he had intended. I immediately took off at full speed towards my bedroom. Nope, this whole caring thing wasn't going to be too bad.


	15. Chapter 15: All is Fair in Love and War

AN:/ Alright guys i know it's been a while so I'm gonna throw this triple whammy at ya. I'm still working on all the grammar revision for my previous chapters. As of right now I'm all the way up to chapter seven on paper and i haven't changed anything on the computer yet. I just wanted to let you guys know that grammar sucks. I hope you all like this take on Tucker. It's a little different than what we're all used to. This chapter is really just so that we know what's going on back home and for what happens later to make sense. I just wanted to say also that i have no clue why you guys like this story so much. I mean everyone keeps reading it. that's really cool. It makes me smile. but it still confuses me. Thank you to every one who reviewed! i appreciate them so much!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 15: All is Fair in Love and War

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, August 15, 2010, 9:47 PM_

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** Tucker's POV.**

"Man, does Danny always have to fight this many ghosts? How come we never saw him at it?" I wiped the sweat off of my forehead as I put the cap on the thermos for like, the seventh time that day. I realized I had made a mistake in bringing Danny up again when Sam's eyes became dark.

"Well, he obviously didn't think we could handle it. He wanted to keep all of the superhero crap to himself because we were too _weak_ to handle it; why else wouldn't he let us help. We obviously aren't that important to him either, because he would rather go to live with some sick, insane, evil man then hear our side of the story!" I shrunk away slightly as Sam became red with restrained rage. It was my turn to play bomb squad again and see if I couldn't get her to calm down.

"Sam I told you how love sick he was. He was really hurt by what he saw; he jumped to conclusions. What would you do in his position?" Sam only turned to face me. The red in her face grew a tinge more embarrassed than angry.

"Don't you go and defend him again Tucker. If he loved me so much, then why didn't he say something? Why did he keep it to himself for two and a half years? If Danny loved me, he wouldn't be hurting me like this right now!" I saw Sam's eyes get shinny and I internally sighed. That had been happening a lot in the last week or so. It had really freaked me out at first, but I was sort of getting used to it.

I went to put my arm cautiously around her shoulder to comfort her; testing to see if that was okay. It always seemed to get her to stop crying. Ever since we, well…you know. Whatever, as long as she didn't start bawling on me we'd be fine.

She didn't shrug off my arm so I knew that it was okay. I gave her a little squeeze as she sniffed. I took her ecto-gun and slung it over my back. It was heavy, but Sam looked grateful; so I dealt with it. We were both exhausted.

Without Danny here we had to deal with all of the ghosts by ourselves. You'd think that with the Fenton's, Valarie, me, and Sam, we'd have it under control. I mean that's like five people compared to the usual _one_. Well things didn't quite work out that way. The day after Danny left, ghosts started appearing left and right. The thing was though; it wasn't because they knew Danny was gone. Nope, all of the ghosts we fought recently usually asked _us_ about where the 'ghost boy' was. That meant that this many ghosts were normal and there wasn't an increase in ghost attacks, but a decrease in people to stop them. Okay really only a decrease of one person, Danny.

"Tucker I'm ready to go home." Sam talked to the ground; there was sheer exhaustion in her tone. I winced slightly at the lack of life in her voice and nodded.

"Alright Sam. Valarie and the Fenton's can get the rest of them for today. Common, your house isn't that far away. I'll take care of this." I shook the Fenton thermos in my hand to indicate what I was talking about. Sam only tiredly nodded. We slowly marched down the street to Sam's house; our minds just sort of idling. Soon enough we were at Sam's doorstep.

"Here you go Sam, get some sleep. You look awful." Sam playfully scowled at that remark as she walked up the steps.

"Gee, thanks Tucker. That makes me feel so much better." I only chuckled.

"No problem." Sam shook her head before she was over the threshold of her front door and saying goodbye for the day.

"See you tomorrow Tuck." I waved a friendly, and hopefully, reassuring wave.

"See ya Sam." She shut the door with a tired smile and I was left on the street by myself.

I let out a sigh and continued to Danny's house. Hopefully his parent's weren't home and I wouldn't have to deal with them. Things were so much weirder now that they were in-the-know. They kept switching emotions at lightning speed. One minute they would be upset that Danny was gone, the next they would be angry at the person who took him, after that they might switch to feeling guilty about shooting at him, then they'd go to feeling stupid for not noticing it earlier. The whole thing gave me a headache. I had a hard time even just keeping up!

They were on constant alert after the night that their house was broken into. There was zero to no chance you could even stand on their doorstep without being assaulted with questions or ecto-guns. They were always in a constant panic and were obsessed with finding whoever had taken Danny. They didn't remember much about the night they were ambushed, but they did remember being really hot, and finding out from some ghost with fangs that Danny and Phantom were the same people.

Then there was the tiny fact that they denied any accusations that they had had Danny at gunpoint. I don't know when it happened in their minds, but the story changed from them scaring him away to him being kidnapped. I think that they just thought of it that way so that they didn't have to deal with the guilt. Whatever I wasn't a physiologist, that was Jazz's job.

Oh and then there was Jazz's place in this whole mess. A night or two after Danny had left, she had called us and told us where Danny was. She probably wished hadn't after the way Sam screamed in the phone, but she did and we can't go back and change that now. We told Jazz about her parents knowing that Phantom was Danny. She got really quite after that and started asking us a ton of questions about how her parents were taking the information. She basically preformed a psychoanalysis through the phone. It was then that I told Sam and Jazz that I had heard them talking about removing Danny's ghost half. After that we all agreed not to tell Mr. and Mrs. Fenton where Danny was. With the way they were acting now, we didn't really want to see how they would do with that information. I wanted things to go back to normal as much as the next kid, but with Danny's folks talking like that; I didn't want him coming home any time soon. It didn't take long for Jazz to come to the conclusion that Danny was still better off at Vlad's; as insane as that stament was.

We didn't really know what to do about Danny. Sam wanted to go to Vlad's and make him listen to us. She was sure that once he heard our side of the story he would forgive us and he would want to go hide out at one of our houses instead. I wasn't so sure. I mean if Danny had run to _Vlad _he had to be pretty upset. I think Danny just needed some time to cool off. Once he got his head back on his shoulders he would come back and try to figure everything out. I mean he wouldn't last long at the fruitloop's house. I was positive. I'd give it another week or two before Danny can't stand him anymore. Sam really didn't like sitting and waiting though, it was driving her up the wall. I just really didn't think it was a good idea to charge into a billionaire-half-ghost's mansion. Honestly, that plan had pain and misfortune written all over it. And I was not about the pain and misfortune part. I had not missed how beat up Danny got after a fight with Vlad either. Sure, he hadn't had one in a year or so, but I still remembered. Those were always the worst; he barely came out of them conscious.

Vlad in general was just bad news. I was not charging head first into the layer of some half ghost maniac to save someone who was probably sitting on a leather sofa eating smoothies. I wasn't worried about Danny getting hurt. Jazz said that he was fine and could hold his own. I knew he could too. Danny had gotten a lot stronger since he fought Vlad last. I just wasn't sure if _we_ could take on Vlad. I mean what if Vlad found us before Danny did. He would not be happy with someone breaking into his house; especially to steal his 'minion apprentice' thing or whatever. Danny had chosen the worst person to hide behind when he ran from Amity. Vlad was a pain in the butt.

I can't believe that Danny would go to Vlad. I know I said to Sam that she shouldn't be mad at Danny for it, but the truth was that it was hard not to be. I mean forget the fact that the guy is totally bonkers, Danny chose to go to an enemy over asking one of us for help. I don't care what had happened between us beforehand, that really hurt. I know Sam was really feeling it. Her emotions were all over the charts lately. She kept going back and forth between mad and guilty. I tried to make her feel better but that's hard when you don't exactly feel great yourself.

It wasn't my fault Danny found us like that. It was Sam who kissed me! I didn't even start it. I was just trying to be a good friend and stop Sam from crying. What was I supposed to do; just watch her suffer? I sighed before I turned the corner to get to Danny's house. It might have been Sam who kissed me, but that doesn't change the fact that I liked it. I hadn't denied it before and I wasn't denying it now. I loved Sam. It tore me apart to see her like this. A part of me even wanted to be angry with _Danny_ for making her feel this way, but I couldn't because I was the person in the wrong.

Then there was that sick part of me that felt _happy_ Danny was gone and making Sam angry. If Sam didn't like Danny anymore then I would finally have a chance. I know that's not a good thought; that I was a real bastard for even thinking it. But that didn't stop it from crossing my mind. I mean really, how could I compete with Danny while he was around? Just look at him! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he's way smarter, and better looking than me. There's no competition!

With him gone, I would finally have a shot at the one girl who I didn't like just because of their looks, who might actually give me a chance for once. I know its evil of me to consider taking advantage of the situation…and that's why I wasn't. I would always be Danny's friend, and I couldn't force myself to disregard the fact. But that also didn't stop me from being there for Sam when I knew she needed it most.

I wasn't going to put the moves on Sam when she was hurting like this. I wasn't screwed up like Vlad; I knew that that was wrong. But maybe if she fell out of love with Danny, or he never came back. I might take my chances.

I sighed in relief when I saw that the Fenton RV wasn't in the driveway. This was going to make putting the Box Ghost back into the Ghost Zone so much easier.


	16. Chapter 16: Just Get in the Limo and Shu

AN:/ Well I don't think this chapter was really necessary but i wrote it anyway because I like interaction between Vlad and Danny so, you can skip it if you want. It's a little longer than last chapter. I like it, I hope you like it. I tried to get more of the grammar stuff out. Please let me know when you spot something. It does me and others a world of good. thanks again for reading hope you all like it!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 16 Just Get in the Limo and Shut Up

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, August 15, 2010, 9:56 PM_

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**Danny's POV**

"There is no way I am being seen in this!" I fussed around in my suit jacket and pulled at the collar of my overly starched and pressed white oxford. We were standing in the entryway, waiting for the limo to pull around.

"You're overreacting Daniel, really it's not as bad as you're making it out to be. Even if you wanted to wear something different you couldn't. The school has a very strict dress code and you will be expected to uphold it." I paused in tugging at the cuffs of my undershirt.

"Yeah and it doesn't say that students are required to wear solid gold cuff-links, Armani Suits, silk ties, or Rolex watches! Vlad, I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb in this rich kid crap!" I tried to loosen the tie around my neck only for Vlad to come and tighten it back up again.

"Daniel, I've been over this with you. You are not going to a place like Casper High. I think you'll find that you will fit in quite well in your current attire." I only rolled my eyes. If Vlad believed there was any population of teenagers that would willingly wear this sort of thing _every day_; well then he was sorely mistaken. I tried again to unbutton the suit jacket so that I could at least wear it open. Vlad however was having none of that. I sighed and gave up trying to make myself more comfortable. It was a losing battle. Vlad spoke up, noticing my blatant distaste of my outfit.

"Daniel, stop being over dramatic. Really, you'll see once you get there. This is not so uncommon where you are going. I do believe that once you get used to wearing these things you will become quite fond of it. You do clean up quite nicely little badger." Vlad had this smirk on his face like he knew something I didn't. I just raised my eyebrows and shrugged it off. Lately that smirk wasn't causing me as much pain as it was inconvenience or embarrassment. Whatever, I could roll with the punches. It's not like I wasn't used to being at the bottom of the social latter.

Vlad smoothed out the red handkerchief in my suit chest pocket one last time; running his fingers over the DM that was embroidered intricately in the corner. He smiled warmly before he seemed to grow somewhat stern. The mood shift caught me off guard because up until now anything that was related to me calling myself a 'Masters' had brought nothing but ecstasy to Vlad's face. I paid close attention when he opened his mouth.

"Daniel do you know exactly what it means that you use my last name?" His look was firm and concerned. It was kind of making me nervous.

"Um, my initials change?" Vlad only frowned and stared at me for a moment.

"Whether or not you want to be a Masters, Daniel, you will be assuming the title. This means you will be representing not just yourself, but me and my companies' wherever you go. You are going to be expected to act the perfect gentleman. I expect you will hold yourself with dignity, and you to not allow yourself to act in any way that may be seen as disgraceful." I sheepishly avoided Vlad's piercing gaze as I reassured him.

"So I shake hands when I introduce myself, open the door for girls, and keep my elbows of the table. I've got this Vlad. I know how to act 'proper'." Vlad sighed and let his head drop a little. He pulled his pant legs up before he crouched to be at my eye level. I really hoped I'd be hitting a growth spurt in the near future. It was really annoying being the size of a ten year old.

"Daniel, I am not just talking about conducting yourself with impeccable manners. I am talking about maintaining an air of dignity and pride. You are going to be harassed because of your last name and because of your relation to me. People are automatically going to compete with you for dominance on principle. I am asking you not to lose your temper and do something you might regret later." I stood a little shocked at what Vlad had said.

"Vlad, I can take a little teasing it's nothing new. I'm not going to run crying to the bathroom or anything." Vlad only smiled sadly before he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Just keep your wits about you, and promise me you won't let anyone get the better of you hm? Use that cunning and wit to your advantage. I'm not going to hold it against you, or punish you for defending yourself." I only looked weirdly at Vlad. He acted like he was preparing to send me to the wolves. I mean, I knew teenagers could be bad, heck I dealt with Dash for the first two and a half years of my high school career, but this was getting a little ridiculous.

"I can take care of myself Vlad, really. I'll be fine." Vlad put on one of his fake emotions again at my reply. I frowned a little internally when I realized it didn't matter what I said, he was still going to worry. Vlad stood back up fully before he turned to the table beside the door. He picked up a shinny black brief case with a little gold plate on the top that read 'Daniel Masters'. I rolled my eyes at the brief case.

"Really Vlad, the suit is enough. Can't I have just a regular backpack or something? There is no way all of my books are going to fit in there anyway." I looked at the skinny black case skeptically. It was thin enough that I doubted even one text book would be able to fit. Vlad only laughed frivolously.

"My boy, you will not need text books where you are going. You'll be using this instead." Vlad expertly maneuvered the suitcase so that it was laying flat on his forearm. He clicked it open and revealed its contense.

"Whoa." That was pretty much the only thing I could think to say on the spot. Inside was a very shinny looking laptop. It was a sleek black and had a two tone pearl finish so that it shined green like my ecto-energy in the right light. It was about as thick as two _Doctor Seuss_ books and no more. I could tell that this thing was far beyond anything Tucker had even dreamed about. Vlad neatly shut the brief case with a tiny click.

"You won't find anything else like it anywhere. I made it myself to be the best of the best. You will have the finest computer in that school. Take good care of it. I can't just order up another one of these, they take time to make. I'll let you figure out all of the bells and whistles on your own." Vlad had a smile on his face as he handed me the brief case. I took it gingerly.

"Th-thanks Vlad." He _made_ this for me? I didn't have to turn the thing on to know this was going to be way cooler than anything I'd ever hit the power button on before.

We were both jerked form our little moment when there was a short honk outside. I opened the door on the dark morning. It was still really early. Vlad said it was going to take me a while to get to school. Like an hour. I asked why I couldn't just fly there and sleep in a little later. I knew I could get there faster than the stupid limo that was only allowed to travel at 70mph. Vlad said that I had to arrive at school normally or I would raise suspicion. I just scoffed and told him that a limo was nowhere near 'normal' in the first place. Vlad stepped out into the cold morning air with me and walked me to the limo. The driver opened the passenger door and smiled friendlily at both me and Vlad. At least he looked well rested.

"Good morning Mr. Masters, and young Daniel. I hope you enjoy your ride to school this morning. It may be a while. It is quite a ways away, one of the downfalls of living so far off in the country I suppose." Vlad only nodded at the driver.

"Good morning to you as well Clinton. Thank you for taking Daniel to school. He shouldn't be too much trouble. Please do inform me that he has arrived safely when you get there." I shifted awkwardly by the open door while Vlad was talking to this Clinton guy. I still didn't feel right inviting myself into a limo, especially _Vlad's_ limo. I stuck myself back into the conversation to let Vlad know he was being overly cautious, and to be less awkward.

"Vlad, were not going to spontaneously combust. I'll be fine." Vlad only gave me one of his looks in response. He was worried underneath his expression though. I really wished he would cool his jets. I could take care of myself. I had for the past two and a half years or so. It made me smirk though, that he was so worried. It was like he was a parent sending their kid off to school for the first time. Okay well, never mind, I guess that's really what he kind of is. But he's still not my dad.

Dad or not I still didn't want to see him upset. The guy had done a lot for me, and I didn't want to repay him by being the reason he was in a weird mood. I was figuring out how to get it through his head that I would be okay when he dismissed the driver to get into the front seat. I was about to climb into the back seat myself when he put a hand on my shoulder. I just kinda stood there as I watched him fish for something in his pocket. He pulled a small object out, about the size of a deck of cards, and placed it forcefully in my hand.

"Here little badger, that is for you. You must promise to call me if _anything_ happens alright? I've already programmed all of my numbers into it. Keep it on you at all times. I don't want you in an emergency without it." I gave the phone he put in my hands a look over and was once again impressed. It matched the laptop in quality of construction. I slid it open and dragged my fingers across the tiny keys. This was one expensive phone. Vlad had my attention once again as he continued.

"And," he dug through his pockets, "you'll need this if anyone asks you about who you are, and believe me they will. So keep that on you as well." I quickly put the phone in my suit pocket so I could focus all of my attention on the black leather wallet being placed in my hand. The thing was thick and looked like it would withstand a lot of wear and tear, for a long time. One thing was for sure, it was a far cry from the duct-tape monster I usually kept in my back pocket. I opened it up to look on the inside. Tucked away in the see-through pocket, where it was supposed to be, was my 'license'. I had to give Vlad props, it looked completely real. My picture didn't even look that bad either; better than my other one anyway. I saw another card in the wallet and pulled it out curiously. It was silver and looked suspiciously like a credit card.

"What the heck is this for?" Vlad's eyes widened in surprise before he spoke; still in shock.

"It's a debit card. You use it to buy things. Please tell me you've heard of these or I am going to have a heart attack right here." I scoffed resentfully at Vlad.

"Of course I've heard of a debit card! But what do you want me to do with it?" Vlad just continued to stare at me like I was retarded.

"Daniel, you buy things with it. You can use it to get things that you need or want. It's not a hard concept." I stuttered a little before I replied.

"You're just going to give this to me? Aren't you afraid, I'll you know, spend a lot of money!" Vlad became more amused than shocked as the conversation went on. Apparently how I was handling a debit card being shoved in my face was funny.

"Daniel, you couldn't spend what I consider 'a lot' of money if you tried. It really isn't as big a deal as you're making it out to be." Vlad raised his eyebrows as I proceeded to sputter in exasperation. I don't think Vlad really understood what he was giving to me here.

"You can't just….This isn't…. but you're…" Vlad sighed and shook his head, though you could tell he was now thoroughly amused instead of shocked.

"Perhaps a debit card was too complicated a concept to spring on you this morning. Here, you keep that." Vlad shoved the hand that was flailing the opposing card around back into my chest as he reached into his own back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and counted out a number of bills before he grabbed my other hand and put the wad of money in it. "That should last you for today." My eyes bulged when I saw the numbers on the bills.

"This is a hundred dollar bill!" Vlad just looked at me with a very happy smirk on his face. After a moment passed and it was clear he wasn't going to say anything I sifted through the money in my hand.

"There are multiple hundred dollar bills here!" Vlad outright laughed at my clear exasperation.

"Yes Daniel, apparently it's news to you, but I have money, A LOT of money. You had better get used to the fact quickly because you are going to have quite a time at school if you don't. Now get in the limo and get on your way to school. We cannot stand here and watch you sputter over green paper all day." Still really trying to get over the fact that I was easily holding a thousand dollars in my hands, I slowly made my way into the dimly lit interior of the limo; switching my gaze from Vlad to the money in my hands. Vlad only shook his head with mirth and put my brief case in the seat next to me.

"Have a good day at school Daniel; I'll see you when I get home." I swallowed thickly and responded as Vlad shut the door.

"S-see ya."


	17. Chapter 17: ILove Technology But

AN:/ Okay here's the last one i have for right now. I know it seems like were just inching along here but i promise things will get exciting agin soon. I actually just finished writing the next chapter, but I'm feeling all written out for the day so I'll go back through and clean it up later. This chapter is even longer than the first two so you should be happy. My eyes are starting to get dry from staring at the screen. Once more thank you all for reading. I know it seems slow right now but it's really going to pick up these next couple chapter's and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Ijsut have to figure out what Danny is going to say at this one part and then I'll have more for you. Alright, ON WITH IT!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 17: I...Love Tech-nol-ogy (But not... as much as you, you see)

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Updated: Friday, August 15, 2010, 10:05 PM_

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**Danny's POV.**

I was pushed into the seat a little bit as we rounded a corner. We had gotten off the highway a long time ago and the whole stopping thing had woken me up. As soon as I had gotten over the fact that Vlad was completely crazy for handing me that much money; I had not hesitated to use the entire length of the limo as a nice place to sleep for an hour. Oh, and the suit hadn't lasted long either. I was currently stripped down to my white cotton undershirt, dress pants, (without the stupid belt. I don't know why Vlad made me wear it; my pants stayed up just fine on their own.) and the black socks Vlad was making me wear. The suit jacket, the white oxford, and my tie were currently serving as my pillow while the rest of it was somewhere on the floor. I stretched my arms and legs from one end to another. I could touch both ends of the seat at once. Just because I was awake didn't mean I thought it was necessary to sit up. Nope, I was still lying down, burying myself in the smell of whatever detergent Vlad used.

I felt myself slide forward a little as the limo came to a stop again. I waited for it to start up; figuring we were at another traffic light. There was a small 'thump' that sounded like a car door opening and closing. I briefly wondered what the heck that was all about when the answer was shoved in my face. Suddenly the interior of the limo wasn't so dark as the door by my feet was opened.

"Daniel, sir?" I rolled with a yelp to the floor of the limo. I let out a low groan. Crap we were there weren't we?

"Sorry to disturb you young sir but we have arrived." Yup we were here. I didn't miss the laugh hidden in the driver's voice either. With whatever dignity I had left I pushed myself off the floor and got myself back into a sitting position on the black leather seat.

"Fine just give me a sec." I rubbed my eyes before I reached to the shoes and the belt so I could put them back on. The belt was easy enough, the shoes weren't far behind; it was when I got to disassembling my pillow that things started to go south. Needless to say nothing was quite as wrinkle free as it had been when I had entered the limo. Most of it looked like it could have been related to a raisin.

"Excuse me sir if I may interrupt?" My heart jumped a little bit again, but that was normal. I was still sort of groggy. I turned to where the driver was leaning inside the limo. He was holding a hanger with a new shirt, jacket, and tie on it, "I believe Mr. Masters anticipated something along these lines?" I rolled my eyes before I scooted towards the end of the limo where the driver was. I took the hanger with a muttered 'thanks'. In the chest pocket, along with a new red handkerchief, was a little slip of paper. I took it curiously but rolled my eyes again once I saw what it said.

_Next time, the pillows are in the cupboard under the wine glasses._

Was I really that predictable? I just continued to put the stupid clothes on. Whatever, maybe the fruitloop was just freakishly prepared. I hurriedly buttoned everything up; which took forever. It didn't take a genius to figure out why the zipper was invented. Just one little pull and your all set, as opposed to all these little holes and buttons that you have to match up and crap. Then after dealing with the buttons, I have the tie to figure out. After the chauffeur had watched me try to re-tie the thing for the third time he decided enough was enough.

"Do you require any assistance sir?" I mumbled out a 'yes' while the driver just looked laughingly down at me. I took the stupid strip of fabric off from around my neck and gave it to him. I swear he had it tied perfectly in like three seconds and was handing it back to me to put over my head.

"Here you are sir." I took the red tie and tightened it, though not as much as Vlad would have liked, around my neck.

"Thanks." I shuffled my way out of the limo and grabbed my brief case as I stood. The chauffeur moved out of the way when I got out and neatly closed the door when I was out of the way.

That was when I got my first real glimpse of the 'High School' I would be going to. I felt like I was looking at freaking Hogwarts; either that or some really old church with the cathedral ceilings.

"Will you be requiring any more services Daniel sir?" I whipped around to face the chauffeur who was waiting patiently for me to tell him he could go.

"Uh, No. I think I've got it from here." I looked around the empty parking lot as the chauffeur walked back around to get in the driver's seat. It was weird because besides the fact that all of the parking spaces were ridiculously long, we were the only ones here, "Hey we aren't late are we?" The chauffeur stopped in opening the door to look at me.

"No we are by no means late. I believe Mr. Masters arranged so that you would arrive early. That way you might have time to orient yourself before others arrive." I nodded and turned back to face the enormous building that was apparently a school. The sun wasn't visible yet but I could tell it was giving off light from behind the forest that surrounded us. Oh did I forget to mention that? Yeah that might explain the whole Hogwarts thing huh? Well, I was completely surrounded by a really thick forest. The only break in the wall like formation of trees was a small road that lead connected this place to the rest of the world.

I heard the limo pull away from behind me and I was left all alone in front of this huge creepy building. Oh joyous day.

I guess now I was supposed to go to the office and check in, like Vlad said I would have to. If I could find the office. I sighed, well as big as this place was I could tell it wasn't as big as Vlad's mansion. At least I couldn't get as lost as I could in Vlad's house. I would have to send out a duplicate to inspect the place while I was checking myself in.

It wasn't anything new for me to send out a duplicate. They were great for surveying the situation before I got there. I could go about my business normally and my duplicate could find out all the things I needed to know. Like where all the good hiding spots were if I had to go ghost, if there were any ghosts already here, all the evacuation points so I could get people out of harm's way if there was a ghost attack, the general layout of the building, and so forth. It came in handy a lot. Reabsorbing the memories and stuff was a little disorienting but it was so worth it in the end. It gave me a huge strategic advantage.

I scanned the windows of the giant castle like building in front of me to make sure no one was peeking out at the empty parking lot. Finding myself completely alone I transformed, duplicated, and quickly changed back. With a quick nod my duplicate was off to do its duty, leaving me to do mine. I sighed and nervously switched my brief case from one hand to the other. First things first, find the main office to get my schedule.

* * *

I was just ready for class to start by this point. I mean, Vlad had gotten me here an hour early. What exactly did he expect me to do with that time? Getting myself 'oriented' like the chauffeur said had taken all of thirty seconds. The secretary in the main office was really cranky and handed me all my stuff and told me what room to go to for my first class. That was it. My duplicate had gotten back to me a long time ago. I had already gone through all of its memories and there was nothing of interest for me to take care of at all. There was this creepily large spider in the boiler room, but it wasn't a ghost. It was completely alive and didn't glow or have giant eyes or anything, so it wasn't my problem.

So for the last thirty minutes or so I had been waiting outside my first classroom, waiting for the teacher to come and unlock the door. I could have phased myself through the door, but people would have wondered how I got inside without a key. I had resorted to going through my briefcase to see exactly what it had in it. The laptop wasn't the only thing in there. There were also a ton of expensive pens some legal pads a graphing calculator a little stapler, some paperclips. Basically a mini-office was crammed into the thing. Once I got past all of the office-y stuff I went on to take a look at the laptop. I tried not to touch it as much as possible so I wouldn't get my fingerprints all over it. It was currently resting securely in my lap.

It was beautiful really. The keys were black with neon green print on them, and there was a web cam built into the top of the screen that I could swivel around. After I was done taking everything in I looked for the power button and waited for it to turn on. I didn't have to wait long; soon I got that black screen with the big white cursor, like you did with those really old computers. I waited for it to type some weird illegible code while it loaded. However what it typed wasn't illegible at all.

_Please enter your first middle and last name, in that order, and hit enter._

I just stared at the sentence for a minute. What caught me off guard wasn't so much the question itself, but the _font_ it was asked in. Every single letter was done in the same style as my Phantom emblem. That was kind of weird, though I guess it went with the whole green and black thing. Curious to see what it would do next I started to enter my name.

_Daniel James…_

I had to stop when I got to my last name though. Which name should I use: Fenton or Masters? I mean I wasn't Vlad's son; I was only using his name to cover my real identity up. I didn't really want to start calling myself that….

I hesitantly started to type in Fenton.

_Fenton_

I finished typing to stare at the screen. I was only six letters but it didn't feel right. Just seeing that word in _that _font was making my stomach squirm and twist, like a bow constrictor. It felt like I was forcing something in the wrong direction. My gut was telling me this wasn't the way to go. I trusted my gut a lot more than I did a few years ago, and the fact that I felt this wasn't right made me stop and reconsider. I stared at the screen before I quickly deleted what I had typed. I looked nervously around to see if anyone else was there before I rested my fingers back on the keyboard. Slowly I typed in the letters.

_Masters_

I waited for my stomach to turn into a knot or feel heavy or something to indicate that I was doing the wrong thing, but it was fine. The funny feeling in my stomach somehow went away. I stared a little longer at what I had typed. It didn't feel wrong, not like my real name had. I debated internally whether to leave it like that. I felt like I was betraying my family somehow by leaving it like that.

My eyes quickly darkened at that thought. What did I have to betray anymore? They had already betrayed me and my trust. Why should I care if I'm doing something they wouldn't like? Vlad had taken better care of me in these past couple of days than my parents were lately. He was the one who had given me this computer in the first place.

I hit enter and tried not to dwell on those thoughts any longer. Hopefully the laptop would help in distracting me. A new question was typed on the next line.

_Please enter the password you would like to use and hit enter._

This was way easier than the last one. I quickly entered the password I used on everything else.

_Cujo8it_

No one ever guessed my password anymore. I changed it after the time everyone had guessed my password so easily. As my head filled with thoughts of my family and friends, I forced my attention back to the screen. Instead of one sentence this time a couple appeared.

_To ensure that this computer is used only with the owner's permission there is an ecto-signature lock on the computers access code. To set the code, so that you will be the only one to access the computer and it's contense, place a small ecto-charge on the mouse pad and the charge will be absorbed to be processed and identified. You will need to repeat this process every time you turn the computer completely on or off to verify your identity._

Okay, this was kind of weird. Though if what it said was true then nobody, ghost and especially human, was getting into my computer any time soon. Ecto-signatures are like fingerprints, every ghosts' is different. I took another apprehensive look around to see if anyone was looking. Seeing no one I collected a small amount of ecto-energy around my index finger. I really didn't want anything to happen to this computer. Vlad would probably be mad if I did anything to it. Gently I lowered my finger to the mouse pad. The energy didn't seem to be affecting the pad in any bad way when it got close so I went ahead and let my finger touch it.

Only to immediately pull it away with a yelp. As soon as I touched the mouse pad I could feel this little suction on my finger. Okay well not really my finger, but I could feel it trying to take the energy off of my finger. Which was creepy, id' never felt anything like it. I watched sort of in shock still as a new message appeared.

_Please try again, needs larger ecto-sample for verification._

I looked at the computer in my lap, mentally going through all of the things that could go wrong with this. I didn't know what was going to happen when I put my finger on that pad again. How much ecto-energy was it going to need? How long would it take to finish collecting or whatever; what if it was long enough that someone came by to see my hand glowing? Would it hurt? Had Vlad tested this thing? Was this some invention that he hadn't worked all the kinks out of yet? Would it short out my powers?

Suddenly a little more paranoid than I was a minute ago, I took the computer off of my lap and set it as far in front of me as I could. The thing could attack me for all I knew! I could end up…

I paused and stopped myself from scooting away from the computer. My head dropped as it became heavy in shame. What the heck was I doing? It was just a computer. I had already had it in my lap for a long time before I decided it was dangerous. Vlad wouldn't give me something that would hurt me, not after this last week or so. He kept trying to tell me he was here to help, but it wasn't going to do any good if I didn't believe him. He wasn't going to hurt me. He hadn't even fought back when I attacked him. He was the only one who was there for me when my life fell apart. He didn't try to take advantage of me or my situation; all he did was give me a place to stay. He fed me, clothed me, and was even going to make sure I got an education.

I gingerly grabbed the computer Vlad had made for me. Vlad had meant this as a gift to show that he cared, and here I was treating it like it was some sort of bomb. Vlad trusted me not to betray him. He left me alone in his house every day. There are tons of things that I could do to take advantage of that, but he trusted me not to. Vlad trusted me, and I had to start trusting him back.

I sighed before I charged up my index finger again. I lightly pressed it to the pad for a few seconds, resisting the instinct to pull away as I could feel the tickle of energy being gathered from the end of my finger. I pulled away when there was a tiny beep.

The computer once again did a great job of distracting me from my emotions as the screen lit up with my distinctive green hue. Almost immediately the thing came to life. Briefly a Welcome flashed across the screen before it was completely loaded and ready to go. I raised my eyes at how fast the thing had gone from logging me in to being all the way on. That was a seriously fast computer.

I raised an eyebrow at the programs that were already installed. Vlad was surprising me again. The version of Doomed that was due to come out three months from now was one of the first things to catch my eye. The second was the iTunes icon. The music library probably didn't have anything in it right now but I clicked on just because I was curious. To my surprise there were songs in the music library. I took a look at the number of songs and my eyes widened at the number. There were already 260 songs on here. I scrolled down the list a bit and examined the selection. It wasn't even Vlad's weird 80's crap! It was all there, Humpty Dumpty, Spoon, Weezer…. This was so going to make my day. I clicked on a song by Spoon called "The Underdog" ready for some pick-me-up music.

The sound of a guitar blasted through the speakers and almost made me drop my computer. I quickly pushed pause before I hunted for the volume controls. I found them and turned them all the way down before I pushed play on the song again and made it only just barely loud enough so that I could hear it. I waited for my heart to slow down a little bit. I had not thought about the volume.

"This computer needs some headphones." I jumped a little when my request was answered with a little click and a small black drawer popping out of the left side of the lap top. I looked at the little black square closer and realized it had something in it. I pulled the two objects out of the little drawer. They looked like…ear buds? Only they didn't have wires coming out of them. There was a little button on the side of one of the headphones that had the little power symbol on it. I pressed it and a little window popped up on the screen of the laptop.

_Would you like to connect wireless headphones?_

I smiled and clicked the yes box. I put the little buds in my ear and turned up the volume a little. Oh yeah, wireless headphones. I could get used to this.

I turned my attention back to the little black drawer when I was all set up. How did that thing pop out anyway? My leg couldn't have pressed any buttons it was well out of the way. The only thing I could think of was that the computer had heard me. I looked around to make sure that no one was around yet. It would be really stupid if someone saw me while I was trying to figure this out.

"Does this computer have a CD player?" immediately a CD tray popped out of the left side of the computer, and a smile broke out over my face. I pushed the tray and the little drawer for the headphones back in; ready to see what this thing could do.

"Computer, open Google." In the blink of an eye the Google home page was open on the screen. This was going to be awesome.


	18. Chapter 18: I Hate Being the New Kid

AN:/ this chapter is long. and a little choppy, but nothing you guys wont be able to follow. I just didn't want to bore you all to death with, "And then I went to my next class..." yeah that got old real fast. i hope you all like it, even those who were hoping for Danny to have it easier than he did at Casper. In a way he does, he just needs to work on manipulating things to his advantage. He'll be more like Vlad yet! Wait what am i saying i don't want to give it all away! or did i give anything away? I guess you'll never know! MUAHAHAHAHA! well maybe at the end of the story i guess. whatever. it is a lot in Danny's POV so bare with me. He does happen to be the main character. I had to do a lot of research for this chapter, I felt like i was in school again. I'm so happy it's over now though. Okay I'm getting sick of listening to myself ramble. ON WITH IT!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 18: I Hate Being the New Kid

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 12:04PM._

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**IMPORTANT:** Alright I've got a lot to warn you about this chapter. First of all: all of the names I came up with for the people Danny meets are somewhat based in reality. I made sure all of the last names are legit, i did not make them up. I got them from the actual names of the people who head the companies. I did however give a few Major CEO's children, change the ages of a couple people, or their genders so that things would work out. Second, and this is the big one here people, I am going to have people that recognize Danny's new identity as a Masters call him "Dan". Now, HOLD THE FREAKING PHONE AND PUT YOUR PANTS BACK ON! I am not necessarily turning Danny evil. He has not changed to his future evil self. And has not developed plans of world conquest. I just have a problem with people calling him "Daniel" because to me that just seems really out of character no matter what setting... except for Vlad, Vlad still calls Danny "Daniel" because it's Vlad and he can do that. So when you see me refer to Danny as "Dan" do not freak out! I repeat: DO NOT FREAK OUT! "Dan" is simply taking the place of "Danny" as his new nickname in this new rich people world. Alright you have been warned.

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**Danny's POV**

I was the same age as everyone else, and that was where the similarities ended. I mean, I have a pretty hard time finding things in common with people in the first place, being half dead and all. But I was pretty sure I was going to have next to nothing in common with the people around me.

Everyone was dressed in suits and business clothes and _nobody_ was complaining about it. I had actually caught a couple of people bragging about what they were wearing. I could smell all kinds of expensive shampoo's and colognes. All of the girls' hair was long enough to be put up, and all of the guys' hair barely went past their ears. Everyone had a laptop and a brief case, just like I did. One thing was for sure, I was definitely eating my words from this morning.

The major thing that set me apart from everyone else though, was that these people looked like they were ready rule the world. Every single one looked like they were the one in charge and was going to expect immediate obedience. I hadn't even started my first class yet and I knew I was in a dog eat dog world. Casper was pretty laid back, and really the only time you needed to worry about yourself was during class changes. Things were going to be very different here. Everyone here meant business. Nobody was joking or smiling; and if they were it was in that snarky way that meant they were taking amusement from someone else's misfortune. I was going to have to stay on my toes or I was going to be eaten alive.

As dreary as the situation was turning out to be; there was one thing that seemed to work to my advantage. None of them seemed to give a rat's ass about why I was here. For my own sake I hoped it stayed that way. One of the things I was worried about was being in the spotlight, but the way things were looking that wasn't going to be a problem. Mostly I could just lay low and figure out how to keep myself under the radar. Nobody would even have to care I was here. I just had to get through the day before I could get back to Vlad and tell him to put me in a regular school.

"Alright everyone settle down, it's time to get started." I was already in my seat at the back of the class, but everyone else glared slightly at the teacher, Mrs. Steil, before they went to sit in their own chairs. The teacher seemed to brush off the glares and just continued as if she hadn't seen anything. "As some of you might have noticed we have a new student today." At this several people scoffed loudly or rolled their eyes obviously. Mrs. Steil's eyes hardened momentarily to quell any exasperated expressions before she softened again. "Daniel, would you come to the front and introduce yourself to the class?" I braced myself as all of the attention was shifted to me; expecting twenty or so eyes to swivel to the back of the room. However the most I got were a few uninterested glances. I shuffled my way out of my desk and to the front of the room. I looked at the class nervously. Most of them were entertaining themselves with the mechanics of their pens; or staring off into space, every once in a while shooting someone across the room a glare. Mrs. Stiel, who was now behind me, made me jump slightly when she spoke.

"Come now Daniel, don't be shy." After I brushed away the shock, I finally noticed she was calling me 'Daniel'. I reflexively went to correct her.

"You can call me Dan-" I stopped myself mid sentence. Was it a good idea to have people call me Danny? It might only be a little bit of my old identity but it was still a clue I was practically handing over to people. I made up my mind. "Dan, just Dan is good." It wasn't that big of a change anyway. A lot of people back home had started calling me "Dan" now that I was older anyway. The teacher took note with a smile and went to change my name on the class roster. I turned back to the class. Everyone was still paying attention to other stuff. This wouldn't be so bad; it was like talking to an empty room. I coughed a little before I spoke.

"Uh, hi. My Name is Dan Masters…" I trailed off as everyone in the room snapped their attention to me. In one instant I had gone from about as noteworthy as dirt to the center of attention. I was suddenly the most important thing in the room with that one, seven-letter word. I tried to resist as my cheeks got hot, but was unsuccessful. Everyone was staring at me with either out right amusement, or skepticism.

"Masters, as in the son of billionaire _Vlad_ Masters?" I found the person who had spoken. She had a very amused look on her face like I was lying and pulling off some elaborate scheme, because I couldn't possibly be Vlad's son. The fact that she and several others didn't believe me made me a little mad. I replied a little harsher than I had intended.

"Yeah, that Masters." Immediately after I said that, there was a scoff from the other end of the room. My eyebrows naturally lowered as he spoke.

"Wow I have got to say, whoever you are, this is the furthest anyone has ever gotten trying to be Masters' long lost son. It even looks like you got the school to believe you." With this he shot a glance at the teacher, "But you can drop the act with us, you obviously have no money whatsoever and are trying to get in by using his name. I have to say I am curious as to how you convinced so many people, especially when you don't even look like him." I was about to say something when I was cut off by someone else.

"I know right? It astounds me at how stupid this schools staff can be. Everyone knows that Masters isn't married. How people continue to ignore that fact just amazes me to no end." There were snickers from around the room. I don't really know why I was so angry. These people really just pissed me off. They shouldn't be talking like that, especially with a teacher right in front of them. Before anyone could cut me off again I raised my voice and got my word in before I sat down.

"I really don't care if you want to believe me or not, but I _am_ Vlad's son. If you don't want to take it at face value, then that's your problem. I don't have to prove anything to you. Oh and you don't have to be married or even have sex to have a kid, there's this little thing called adoption that makes that possible. You might want to look it up." The only reaction my little speech got from the class was more giggles, whistles, and eye rolls. I ignored it and went back to my seat. This was definitely not what I expected. I mean, I know I wasn't used to money that stuff, but I didn't think I stood out that much. What was the big deal about me being a Masters anyway? Was it really that hard to believe? I had to figure a way to sort this out. There was one thing I knew for sure though; I was definitely going to be asking Vlad to switch schools by the end of the day. Mrs. Steil raised her voice and got everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone settle down. This isn't "Maury" it's Business Math and Ethics; and I intend it to stay that way. I want you all the open up your laptops and go check your stocks for today. When you've figured your gains and losses I want you to go to your online text books and read pages 206 to 217. There is no need for talking." All of the talking died down to whispers and blatant staring was reduced to covert glaring. Occasionally someone would turn and give me thumbs-up like I was pulling off some major stunt. I caught the teacher giving me sympathetic glances as she walked back to my seat to give me instructions on what to do. I pulled out my computer and opened it; waking it up from sleeping. I hadn't turned it off completely when I put it away so I didn't need to give it any more ecto-energy. I just had to enter the password. Mrs. Steil crouched beside my desk and spoke in whispers.

"I'm sorry about that Dan. I know this is hard but they'll warm up eventually." I looked at her skeptically with my head angled down. She laughed at my expression.

"I never said how long 'eventually' was now did I? I see you've already gotten you're computer out, now what I want you to do is open Google." Before I could even think about touching the mouse Google was once again up and running. The teacher blinked a couple of times before she shook her surprise off and continued. "I need you to create a G-Mail account for this class regardless of whether you already have one or not. When you've finished with that I would like you to follow the instructions on these papers," She put a few of the papers in her hands on my desk and pointed to them, "to create your own business portfolio. I usually suggest that students base them off of their parent's portfolios or ask about how to construct an accurate one when they get home. The same goes for buying stocks; if you don't already have any investments that you manage on your own." I nodded and looked through the papers that she had handed me. I didn't understand half of what I was supposed to do, but I was pretty sure Vlad would help me out in this department. Mrs. Steil continued to explain how I was going to catch up with everyone, what work I was excused from because I wasn't here, excreta.

It wasn't long before I was once again by myself at the back of the classroom. I took a look at the time in the bottom right hand side of the screen. It was only 8:26. I had 'til 8:55 until I went to my next class. Clicking around, I decided I'd better get started on this stuff. I opened up G-Mail like the teacher had said and got to work on coming up with a good email address. I really hoped that I was going to make it through the day.

* * *

"Hey new kid!" My shoulders slumped; I had only made it three feet out of the classroom and I was already under attack. Even Dash gave me a couple-seconds head start. I tried not to sneer back. I don't know why but these people just really got under my skin. I kept telling myself I didn't know them and I shouldn't judge them, but I was finding that increasingly difficult.

"I have a name you know." The group of five or so guys, along with the one who had accused me of faking my name earlier, all turned to each other and laughed.

"Oh common, we both know that's not your real name. I mean it was a good show and all but you can head back to whatever public school you came from now. You couldn't make it any more obvious that you don't belong here." My eyes hardened at the insult. They didn't know anything. The fact was _I couldn't_ go back to my 'little public school'. I didn't have a place to 'belong' anymore. This was where I was now whether they liked it or not. There was a side of me that really just wanted to punch the guy for bringing my situation to the for-front of my head.

I didn't have to take this crap. These people wouldn't know the difference if I stood up for myself. It was just like Vlad had said; I was at a new school with a new image. I could defend myself, and that was exactly what I intended to do. I stood just the slightest bit taller.

"If all you're going to do is insult me than I would appreciate it if you would let me continue to my next class. I have better things to do than listen to you attempt to sound intimidating." There was a chorus of 'oh's from the small crowd that had collect around us. The guy who had spoken earlier in class sent a glare out over the giggling crowd and looked back to me.

"Look kid, you can drop the act, it was funny for the first few minutes and all but it's getting old. Now just go back to your little public school and you can tell everyone you talked to the great-grandson of Henry Ford, alright?" This was seriously getting on my nerves. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I was glad I was used to holding back my anger for Dash. With all that practice I had gotten really good at not punching back. I didn't understand why this guy wanted me to leave so badly, but it was really starting to piss me off. What right did this guy have to just declare that I was lying anyway? Just wanting to get on with my day, I took a breath.

"I don't have time for this. Listen, why do you care anyway? Can't you just let me leave and go about my life?" There were angry whispers from the crowd that silenced quickly when it became clear that Mr. 'Ford Tough' over here was going to talk.

"Let me explain something to you, kid. You think you're the first person to try to pull off this whole thing? You think you can just waltz in here and attach yourself to money so that you get a leg up in the world? That isn't how it's going to work. I don't care how you got this far or what sap story your going throw at me to convince us to let you stay. The bottom line is we can't let punks like you go around and steal what isn't yours." My fists clenched. This guy didn't even know me and he was accusing me of lying and stealing. I was not a liar and definitely not a thief. It was hard enough being thrown into the whole "you've got to trust your arch enemy now" thing, I didn't need this guy on my case. I took a step forward, to which he only raised an eyebrow. It was about all I could do not to just give this guy a black eye.

"I'm not lying about anything. It's you who doesn't think I'm telling the truth. You don't even know who I am and here you are accusing me of being a liar and a cheat. I _never _cheat. I _am _ Vlad's son. Go ahead and call Vlad himself for all I care. I don't owe anything to you, so you can shove it." There was another chorus of "oh's" and the circle around us expanded a little as if we were about to fight. 'Ford Tough' just raised an eyebrow.

"You know that really isn't half bad an idea. If you really are Masters' son, then he won't mind if we give him a call will he?" My face dropped slightly at what he was suggesting. Vlad would probably not appreciate being called out of the blue when it wasn't an emergency. This other guy just smirked at me and called out a name. "Adrian!" the crowd parted slightly to let a guy with black glasses and sideburns into the circle.

"I'm right here Bill. What do you need?" Bill, which was apparently 'Mr. Tough Guys' name, crossed his arms and told this Adrian guy what he wanted.

"Did you hack the school system and stop the clocks?"Adrian only smirked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Bill smirked right along with Adrian.

"Good, I need you to get Vlad Masters' main office number. We have a little call to make." Adrian only nodded before he swung his own briefcase up onto his forearm like Vlad had done earlier that morning. He opened it up and started typing furiously away on his laptop with his free hand. I was a little nervous when it was clear that this guy was going to follow through on his threat, but I calmed myself. If Vlad was going to be mad at anybody, it would be this Bill person. I wasn't doing anything; I was completely innocent. Plus, I don't really know how to explain it but… a part of me thought that Vlad would want to help me out. I had him for back up now that he was taking care of me. That made me feel confidant and relaxed as everyone around me tensed. Adrian clicked a few more times and looked to Bill.

"Done. Do you want to call from the computer or from your cell?" The crowd around us started to quiet as the moment of truth got nearer.

"Computer's good." Adrian nodded again before he typed a little bit more. The computer in his hand started ringing in a low bell-like purr. Everyone was dead silent and leaning forward as much as possible to be able to hear the conversation. All breathing stopped when the sound of the phone being picked up could be heard.

"_This is Vlad Masters speaking."_ Bill hesitated a moment. Now that Vlad was actually on the phone it looked like he was having second thoughts. I raised my eyebrows at him. What was he so nervous about, it was just Vlad, and Vlad was rich like him right? He saw the look I was giving him and that seemed to give him enough confidence to talk.

"Hello Mr. Masters, It's Bill Ford. My dad introduced us in Germany last summer?" Everyone seemed impressed with the information that Bill had met Vlad. At least that's what I gathered by the way everyone was turning to everyone else with surprised looks on their faces.

"_Ah yes, William. How are you dear boy? I trust school is going well." _

"I'm fine thanks for asking. Actually there was a problem here at school today that I thought you might want to be aware of." There were a few restrained giggles at Bill's words. They were all silenced, however, when there was noise from the other side of the line. There was a sigh as if someone had pulled their face away from the phone, before Vlad spoke.

"_I venture you've met Daniel this morning?"_ There was a stunned silence at Vlad's words. Everyone turned to me which of course caused me to blush. Vlad just sighed again and muttered something to himself before he continued.

"_Based on the lack of ability to speak and the hallow silence coming from your end of the line; I'd say, yes, you have. I'd also say that a good deal of the student population are in the hallway surrounding you and Daniel, while you call me yourself to prove that he is an imposter. Am I correct?" _Bill was only able to stutter, not used to Vlad's knack for knowing everything about a situation without even being there. Vlad mercifully cut off Bill's stuttering.

"_That's what I thought. Mr. Brin, if you would turn up the volume so that everyone can hear without having to strain themselves."_Adrian blinked before he hurriedly complied. Vlad waited for a moment before he told everyone the lie we had come up with earlier.

"_Thank you Adrian. Everyone pay attention, I'm only going to say this once. I adopted Daniel about a month ago. I kept it under the radar, because I did not want him bombarded with media attention until I thought he was ready for it. You all will agree that to those who don't know how to handle the attention it can be overwhelming. He is legally my son and that warrants full use of my last name. He has full access to all of my finances and he will inherit everything I own when I die. He may choose to succeed me in taking over the companies I own if he so chooses. None of you are to go to the media with this or I will take the appropriate action. Am I clear?"_ There was an eerie silence at the end of his explanation as he waited for an answer. When he didn't get one he spoke again.

"_That was not a rhetorical question."_ Everyone muttered a 'yes Mr. Masters' as they shuffled around.

"_Good, now you all must head back to class because at one point the teachers are going to notice that it has been 8:57 for over three minutes. Oh and Daniel." _Everyone paused to look at me or the computer. I coughed a little before I spoke.

"Uh, yeah?"

"_I imagine that I'll be staying at the office a little late today. You may start dinner without me if you would like. Have a good day."_

"Yeah, uh you too Vlad." With that Vlad hung up the phone and the hallway burst back into motion. Everyone was asking questions to everyone else. Some people were giving me their apologies and offering to show me to my next class, obviously trying to suck up. While others just glared daggers at me and walked away. In the couple of seconds since Vlad had hung up, the hallway had gone from dead quite to louder than a circus. Somehow I managed to start moving towards my chemistry class. And to add to the whole thing Bill and Adrian had slipped away into the crowd without a trace.

* * *

"Daniel Masters?" I set my brief case down on the cold black table and sat myself down in the matching black spiny chair. I internally sighed, but put a happy face on anyway; sticking my hand out for a handshake. It wasn't her fault that I was practically famous in less than thirty seconds. I had to cut her some slack. Vlad wanted me to be a gentleman anyway.

"Just Dan is fine. I'm sorry I don't already know your name." The girl in front of me smiled and took my hand shaking it lightly.

"It's Martha Beyer. I heard about you standing up to Bill. I think you were totally in the right. I wish more people would be like you and put that guy in his place. He's a real jerk." I just nodded and muttered thanks. How fast did information travel at this school? What, had that happened like two minutes ago! The way everyone was shooting glances back at me and whispering, it looked like almost everyone already knew who I was and what had just happened. This was great, just great. Martha coughed lightly getting my attention again.

"I guess were lab partners now that we're sitting next to each other. How are you at chemistry?" I shrugged and played with the handle of my brief case. Not really sure what I should do.

"I guess I'm okay. I don't really know; we never really did anything but take notes in my old school." Sure it was a lie, but it was better than telling this girl that I was ban from handling all beakers at Casper high. I wanted her to have just a little faith in my ability. Martha looked surprised with my answer.

"Really? Well it can be a little hard but you'll get it. Mr. Corfixen is the best Chemistry teacher here." I was prevented from furthering conversation by said teacher when he clapped his hands together getting everyone's attention. Oh goody class was starting. I prepared myself for what was sure to come. Mr. Corfixsen spoke in a loud happy voice as he got class going.

"Alright everybody lets settle down. It's time to get started. Well as some of you seem to have noticed we have a new student with us. He'll be here the rest of the year. Would you please stand up and introduce yourself?" He motioned his hand to me and everyone who wasn't already staring at me swiveled to look. I put on a fake smile and tried to keep it together as all eyes were on me. I didn't want to start off looking weak like I did in first hour. I could learn from my mistakes, and letting my nervousness show had definitely been a mistake. I waved a little as I started to talk.

"Uh, hey. I'm Dan Masters." This class period reacted completely different from last hour. Now instead of all looking at me like I was crazy, they all looked at me like I was something amazing. Eyes were wide in realization or recognition. All except for one kid who apparently, didn't get the memo.

"What? You can't be-" The person next to him took the liberty of elbowing him in the stomach and then filling him in on what had happened in the hallway. Mr. Corfixen directed attention away from the interruption by, of course, focusing it back on me.

"So Dan why don't you share something about yourself with the class?" my face got a little hot with the question. What the heck was I supposed to say?

"Uh, I dunno. My favorite food is pizza?" The class giggled a little at my response while I took the liberty of sitting down. The teacher only smiled laughingly with the rest of the class.

"Who doesn't like a good slice of pizza? Dan if you would see me when I get class going so I can get you everything you need that would be good. Now everyone else; if you would take out your homework from last night and switch with someone nearby, so we can check it." It was weird to see people turning on their computers and switching _them_ instead of papers but I guess it was something I would have to get used to.

* * *

And that's how my day had gone until now. I went through the whole thing over again in Comp. Lit. and Pre-Calc, now I was headed to lunch with the pack of followers that had attached themselves to me like those little fish you see attached to sharks. They had been trying to suck up to me so much I seriously thought I was going to get a hickey. Then on the complete opposite side of the spectrum were the people who glared at me like I had murdered their families. I don't know why those people where so angry with me, but I was perfectly content to let them glare. It's not like I wasn't used to taking crap from people I didn't know. When Amity hated me, I got used to that real quick. Just as long as those people didn't try to start anything, I'd be good. The guy that had assigned himself to my right side suddenly started to speak.

"Masters you're going to want to take a left up here." It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. I still wasn't used to people calling me that. I nodded and the group that surrounded me acted as assort of bubble as I walked down the hallway, making sure that I didn't get stuck behind anyone slow or run into anyone headed in the opposite direction.

It was obvious from there, where the lunch room was. And it didn't take long, with my self-appointed 'posse' following me, to get through the door. Honestly the room probably had more in common with a five star restaurant than it did any school cafeteria. The lights were low and everyone was sitting in booths or tables. People were looking at menus and telling one of the many waiters or waitresses that were bustling around what they wanted. Nope, I decided, this was not a cafeteria, it was a restaurant. I was torn from examining my surroundings when an older looking man addressed me.

"Last name please." I stuttered for a minute as people hovered around me almost possessively.

"Uh, M-masters." The bald man stopped for a second and raised his eyebrows in shock before he was back to acting like nothing had happened.

"Good afternoon Mr. Masters, I understand you are new here so I will be seating you for today. Your father called and made your seating arrangements for you. How many people in your party?" I gaped for a second trying to orient myself. When he said 'father' an image of my dad holding a gun to my skull flashed across my head before I remembered this guy was talking about Vlad. The information oddly made me feel better. I came back to reality and realized he was asking about the number of sucker fish that kept following me. I quickly turned around to count them. It was sit with them, or sit alone; and everyone knows you _never _sit alone when you can help it. I had accounted for about two people when a mousy girl who had been walking behind me helped me out.

"There are twelve of us including you if you would like to sit with us." The people behind me all looked at the floor, like they were unsure if I was going to have them eat with me. I turned back to the waiter guy, still very confused.

"Twelve." The waiter nodded while I heard quite high fives of celebration behind me. People were happy that I wanted to sit with them.… This was new. The waiter quickly got my attention again.

"Right this way sir." He started walking deeper into the dimly lit room. As our long parade wove through tables, the people we walked by would quite down before picking up whispers when we had passed. The whole thing was seriously getting old. Finally we had gone past all of the tables and we were standing at a door. The waiter opened it and gestured for me to enter. I did and was stunned by what I saw. It was a private dining room with a table long enough to seat about fifteen people. A huge wall of glass was opposite the door, and was letting us get a full view of the forest that surrounded the school. There was another waitress inside waiting for us.

"Mr. Masters?" Once again it took me a second to realize the girl was talking to me. She had her shinny brown hair up in a bun and looked to be about in her twenties. I nodded and walked over to where she had pulled out a chair at the head of the table. After a couple of days Vlad had finally explained to me that I was supposed to let the people move my chair for me. I thought it was weird but it was what rich people did I guess. Everyone else filed in, expressions giddy as they found seats as close to me as possible. When everyone was seated the waitress addressed us all.

"Hello my name is Gloria and I'll be your server today. What can I get you all to drink?" She looked to me and I hesitantly replied.

"You guys have coke?" She nodded and smiled looking to the next person going around the table. Finally everyone had gone and she went to get our orders. When the door clicked shut we were left in a creepy silence. I squirmed a little bit when I realized everyone was most likely waiting for me to say something.

"Uh," everyone looked at me, hanging on my every syllable. I nervously rubbed the back of my neck, "thanks for showing me where the lunch room was and sitting with me and stuff." A girl that was sitting three people down to my right responded.

"No, thank you! I've never been in a private dining room before. My mom never wants to pay for them because she doesn't want to spend that much every day." There were several nods of agreement at her statement before we were plunged into that weird silence again. Some people unwrapped their silverware and put there napkins on their laps, while others just stared out the window or around the room. I was the only person looking at the menu because everyone else already knew what was on it. Occasionally someone would suggest something and I'd have to nod and say I'd think about it when really I thought it sounded disgusting. When the waitress came in with our drinks and to take our orders I could have hugged her.

Though that small distraction lasted only couple of minutes and I was back to sitting in a room full of people I didn't even know the names of. Finally the guy to the right of me coughed to get everyone's attention. He didn't look at all flustered that everyone was looking at him, the only reason he seemed nervous was because It looked like he was unsure if he should be talking without my permission or not.

"Well uh, we all know your name of course, but I thought we could go around the table and introduce ourselves. Since, you know, we've never met before." There were mummers of agreement as I smiled and nodded as well. The guy coughed again before he started.

"Well I guess I'll go first. My name is Luke Walton and my grandpa was the founder of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club." Luke looked to the pair of guys next to him and they introduced themselves.

"I'm Mark and this is Paul. Our last name is Smucker, I'll give you two guesses to figure out what were gonna do when we get outta school and the first one doesn't count." There was a round of giggles at the pair's antics before the girl who had told me the number of us here was up.

"My name is Katie Roberts and my dad is the President and CEO of Comcast."

"Albert Strauss, My great-grandfather was Levi Strauss. My Dad is one of the owners of the company."

"I'm David West Jr. and my dad is the CEO of Hershey's Chocolate."

"Shara Reynolds, My grandfather founded Reynolds Metal's Co."

"Herbert Johnson's the VI, my dad's the CEO if the S.C. Johnson's company."

"John French. My grandfather made the first French's Mustard."

"Kirt Powell, my dad is the CEO of General Mills."

"Ashley Novak, My Dad is the chairman for Pizza Hut."

My eyes were wide as everyone went around and introduced themselves. These people had to be millionaires! Everyone's eyes were back on me and not really knowing what to do; I followed the pre-established pattern and introduced myself.

"Uh, Dan Masters. Vl- Dad owns a lot of company's I think Vlad Co., DALV, and Masters Inc. He might own more I wouldn't have a clue." I got goose bumps when I had to refer to Vlad as my Dad. I wasn't sure if they were bad or not though. My stomach got this tingly feeling when I said it, like I was on a roller coaster. I was going to have to get used to it though, I had to keep up the image that Vlad really was my dad.

There was a round of giggles after I introduced myself, though I'm not sure what was so funny. Everyone settled down again and was once more waiting for me to say something. What was up with that? I felt like I was managing some sort of important meeting the way everyone was dressed up in suits and glancing at me expectantly. Still really uncomfortable with the silence and feeling like I should say something. I tried to start a conversation.

"So uh, news travels really fast around this school…" a couple of the kids at the end nodded and a girl, I couldn't remember her name, the Comcast person responded.

"Me, Adrian and a couple of the other people who were familiar with networking set up a social networking site that we can use on our computers without being caught. It helps in spreading news faster. You probably already knew that though." Well that explained a lot. If everyone had computers and were always on them that would certainly help things along. I laughed nervously as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"He he, yeah, actually you're the first person to actually tell me about it. I never saw anyone on it." Everyone at the table looked at me curiously while the Comcast girl got up and walked towards me.

"That's okay it's still your first day. You have your computer on you?" I nodded and gently opened my briefcase and took the thing out. There were a couple of wide eyes and 'whoa's at it and I couldn't help but smirk. I loved this damn computer.

I looked uncertainly up at Comcast girl.

"Um, I know you just said your name but what-"

"Katie, don't worry about it; I'm horrible with names. It's always easier with the people who have last names that we're already familiar with too." She gestured for the computer and I hesitantly turned it towards her after entering the password. She quickly got to work typing faster than I thought was possible. Her brows quickly furrowed in confusion.

"That's weird." I was quick to ask what could be wrong with my computer. If it was broken already, Vlad would be pissed. Katie looked down at me and upon seeing me worried, quelled my fears.

"Oh no, it's fine. Nothing's wrong. It's just these codes are written differently than anything I'm used to. It'll take me a minute to get you set up." I smiled again in relief as she went back to work. Everyone around the table had gone to talking amongst themselves. I listened in to the conversation nearest me.

"I can't for the life of me figure out why they hired Mrs. Smith." The guy across from him nodded enthusiastically.

"I know you'd think that she was teaching freaking kindergartners. I swear to god if she wears another one of those good awful dresses I'm going to puke. And I can barely understand what she's saying when she says it in English let alone in Latin." I was pulled from my eaves dropping when Katie was done.

"Alright Masters here you go. You can change your user-name and stuff so that people don't know who you are. Nobody uses their real name on here just because of the things people say. To close the window when a teacher is coming don't hit the minimize button. Hold down control, B, and down arrow at the same time. To open up the program hold down the number three, alt, and the space bar, got it?" I nodded and thanked her. She smiled and returned to her seat.

Soon enough I was swept up in some conversation that I had no clue about but tried to participate in anyway. Our food came and we all ate, though that didn't stop conversation. I looked around at everyone and figured this wasn't so bad. I mean, I could do this. Sure they had all attached themselves to me because of my name and my money but they seemed nice enough and like they cared whether I was happy or not. It seemed like these people cared that I wasn't shunted to the side. This wasn't turning out to be a half bad day.

* * *

Okay I take everything back this day _sucks. _You know what class I came out of just now, do you?

Mandarin Chinese II.

It wasn't even the level one class it was the level TWO class. I don't know what Vlad was thinking when he put me in there. I mean yeah I was _starting_ to catch on but the rest was complete gibberish!

I had always been pretty good at learning languages for some reason. It took me about a month to become fluent in Esperanto, but that was a lot like English. This was completely different.

Oh but that's not the end of it, do you want to know what class I was headed to now. _Fencing_. Yup you heard me, as in sword fighting. I mean yeah I had been in a couple sword fights in my ghost fighting career but I didn't enjoy it; I wasn't very good at it either. What was Vlad thinking anyway sending me to a fighting class? He saw me in the training room! I knew I would be really tense and stuff but once again, thanks to Dash, I was pretty good about not going overboard with people I could identify as 'freindlies'. I just sighed and tried to understand what the guy next to me was saying.

A new kid who had attached himself to me, I couldn't remember his name either, was trying to give me a run down on how the whole thing was supposed to work. All I'd gotten so far was 'keep the pointy end of the other guys stick away from you'. And that was what I had entered the conversation already knowing.

The guy held the locker room door open for me as I stepped in. It looked a lot like a regular locker room, except it was completely different; like everything else in this school. There were individual stalls for every shower. There were lockers assigned to everyone on one of the walls. I walked over to the one labeled for me and found it unlocked. Inside there were instructions on how to set the lock and these weird white clothes. I picked up the shirt skeptically. It looked like a leotard. I was just not having any luck with my wardrobe today.

Line break

Cling, cling, cling, shhhhhhhhhink, cling, cling.

"Hold it Masters!" my sparring partner sighed as we were stopped again because I had done something else wrong. I couldn't see who it was because of these weird wire masks, but I sent them a glare anyway. They had to cut me some slack. I had no clue what I was doing. The instructor, who was dressed in a black version of what I was wearing, came up to talk to me again.

"You can't cross your feet when you move forwards or backwards Dan. And hold the sword a little higher up on the hilt you'll get more control that way." I breathed a little heavily and nodded to show him that I understood. He clapped me on the back and moved away before starting us up again.

"En garde!" And we were at it again. Moving backwards or forwards depending on who was attacking and who was defending. We had to alternate when we made it to the end of the mat, otherwise I would've stayed on the offensive the entire time. I hated being on the defensive; it always made me feel like I was getting nowhere.

"Halt!" the person I was sparing with immediately dropped their sword to the ground and crossed their arms with a huff.

"Mr. Aaron I can't do this. He can't spar for more than three seconds without doing something wrong. Let me go practice with the other guys. I'm wasting my time here!" Mr. Aaron came up to us and regarded my partner for a moment before he nodded and let the kid go. As the kid went I could tell he was smirking at me. I wanted to run after the guy and show him just how incompetent I was with a freaking sword but I held myself back as the instructor took my partners place on the mat.

"Alright Dan, it's nothing to get upset about. You're just starting out, but once you get the hang of things I think you'll be a natural. Your fighting style, besides needing a little tweaking, is already very developed. It's just getting the rules down that's going to take some work. Alright let's get back to things then now shall we. En garde."

I fell into the position that this Mr. Aaron had showed me at the beginning of class. I held the sword in front of me with my arm slightly bent and my left arm curled up above my head so that I felt like a scorpion. My legs naturally bowed into a fight ready stance and I was turned to the side presenting as little of a target as possible. I thought I saw a smile on the instructors face as he continued to give me instruction.

"Good. Now let's go through the moves we know so far. Lunge." I stepped forward with my left foot and extended my right arm so that if I was actually sword fighting I might have stabbed someone. The instructor nodded.

"En garde." I got back to that position as he got into one himself, "Parry." Now as he lunged towards me I blocked the tip of his sword with mine using the length closer to the hilt. The instructor nodded again.

"Riposte." Now I lunged at him with my sword and he blocked me.

"Riposte." He lunged back at me and I blocked him again. I had to say that fencing was nothing like the sword fighting I had ever done in ghost fighting. Nobody cares about these stupid rules when you're fighting for your life, okay well I guess 'afterlife' in most other cases.

"Dan stay focused." I shook my head and stuttered an apology. This whole thing was stupid why couldn't we all play dodge ball like regular people? I quickly found a sword coming at me again and went up to block it instinctively. However I was apparently doing something wrong by preventing my head from being hypothetically chopped off because Mr. Aaron quickly called out 'halt' once again.

"Dan, can you tell me what you did wrong here?" I sighed and looked over the position I was in before giving up.

"I dunno." The instructor sighed and dropped out of the fighting stance we had landed in; prompting me to do the same.

"You tend to block my attacks without thinking of your next move. You wouldn't have been able to launch an effective attack from your blocked position." This was seriously retarded. So what if I wouldn't have been able to attack back right away. I saved myself from getting hypothetically impaled didn't I?

"So? At least you didn't land a hit. If these were real swords what would it matter if I couldn't get right back at you. Ultimately saving my head is more important than being able to switch directly back to offense. And if your enemy is making swipes at your neck like that you're most likely going to have to stay prepared in a defensive position anyway. If you went on the offense in a situation like that; they would probably have more of a chance to land a hit on you. So if I wanted to stay alive, I would have made the right move." There was silence after the end of my little monologue. Everyone else had stopped fencing and the clanging that had occupied the room before then was gone. Suddenly snickers broke out behind me. I resisted whipping my head around to glare. I don't know what they thought was so funny but it was obvious they had never had to fight for their lives.

Even through the mask he was wearing, I could tell that Mr. Aaron was concerned. When he spoke his voice only confirmed my suspicions.

"Dan, this is not a real sword fight. It's simply for fun and exercise. No one is out to get your head." I had to use all of my will power not to scoff. If only he knew the irony of his words. The giggling behind me increased with the instructor's reassurance. I simmered on the inside. Those people knew nothing of what I had gone through. They wouldn't last two seconds in a real fight.

I clenched my fists and released them trying to let some of my anger go. The instructor was right. This wasn't a real fight. It was just a game. I had to get that through my head sooner or later; I might as well try to get it through now. My shoulders slumped and I looked back up to the instructor.

"Alright let's try it again."

* * *

I looked again out the large glass window only to see that Vlad still wasn't home. I was sitting in the entryway waiting for Vlad to get home. Honestly, it made me feel ridiculous, but I didn't know how else I was going to get a hold of him. Up until now he had been the one to seek me out. That meant that I had no idea where his room was or his study or whatever places he liked to hang out in. This was a problem because I needed his help with my homework. Believe me I had a freaking shit load of it. I had to create a business portfolio, buy at least five thousand dollars in stock, read chapters 1-6 in my _Business Ethics_ book online by the end of the month, memorize the forty most common elements by next Friday, write a five page paper on my "life philosophy" to hand in two Fridays from now, I had thirty Pre-Calc problems to do, memorize as much vocab as I could for Chinese, and on top of that I had to figure out how the heck this whole fencing thing worked soon so that I didn't continue to make an idiot out of myself.

Yeah I was loaded down with crap, and I needed help. I was currently trying to get some math problems done but that was just making me feel like I wanted to blow something up, so I quit that. Though without something to do, I quickly grew bored of staring at the marble floor. I thought for a moment of hopping on facebook, but I really couldn't risk that. Suddenly I remembered the networking site that that Katie girl had hooked me up to earlier today. That would work; it was like facebook from what she said. I jogged my memory; trying to come up with the keyboard shortcut to open the program. After trying several variations of the same few buttons I finally got it to open. I hadn't opened it after Katie installed it. I was too busy trying to survive school.

The home page was simple enough. The page was decorated in the schools maroon and sage colors. I was currently referred to as _screen_name_ according to the banner that ran over a default profile picture in the upper left hand corner. I ignored it, figuring I could change it later; I was more intent on exploring the site. Clicking around I found there was a place for sports announcements, and a calendar with all of the clubs and stuff activities on it. I finally got to the forum page where everyone spreads all the gossip. It was a giant page filled with discussion topics. Most, if not all, of the ones displayed on the page were related to me in some way.

_Have you seen the new kid?_

_The Master's Guy is Legit!_

_Masters Sucks_

_Dirt on Masters_

The list went on and none of it was much better. I decided to pick one that didn't look too bad. I clicked on "Master's is Legit" and started to read. Totally unprepared for what I was about to see.

_**~MoneyBags~:**__ Dude I can't believe it. The twerp from this morning actually is Masters' son! How fucking screwed up is that? The kid is the epitome of suburbia. I don't know how the fuck he got Masters to adopt him. He's not even smart or tough or good at sports or anything! He's a freaking wuss; he's not going to last three days here before he's running crying to his Daddy. _

_**[Ice_cream_man]:**__ I know right? Did you see how red he got in first hour today? No wonder Masters hasn't told the media he'd probably wet himself! Did you see the YouTube video of him in the hallway with Bill? It's hilarious. He tries to act all tough like he's actually going to get into an actual fist fight. The guy was probably dirt poor before Masters picked him up for him to be acting like that. I don't know what the heck Masters sees in him anyway. _

_**Richer_than_you_are:**__ Augh, it makes me sick the way everyone is sucking up to him. I could maybe understand if he was actually going to be something when he got older but the kid obviously has absolutely no potential in the business world. I don't know what everyone sees in trying to get on his good side._

_**I3HelicopterRides:**__ Um hello, it's called networking! So what if he's worthless he's attached to Masters! If there is even a chance that he has a party or goes to one of those "social gatherings" that our parents are always going to, I want an excuse to get a word in with the big man. It doesn't take a genius to figure that any association with Masters name is a huge advantage._

_**Richer_than_you_are:**__ Fine whatever you can deal with the hillbilly. I still don't understand what the huge deal is but I guess if you want to hang around him then be my guest._

_**~MoneyBags~:**__ No matter what, nobody can deny that this guy is going to throw a wrench in the system. I for one don't plan on treating this wanna-be like he's worth anything just because he has an important last name._

_**Don't_really_care:**__ That's the thing though, the guy has power whether we want him to or not. When masters is gone and he's the only one in charge I want to be one of the people he associates with. Not one of the people he brings down because they were mean to him in high school. I can deal with his ignorance enough to protect my future._

_**~MoneyBags~:**__ The guy doesn't have a future! Are you kidding me? He's going to be eaten alive when he gets to the real world. He actually stopped to help someone who dropped their books today! If he keeps that up when and if he decides to take over Masters' place, then I don't care how huge Masters' empire is; it's going to come crumbling to the ground. _

_**[Ice_cream_man]:**__ there is one thing we can agree on though, whether we get on his good side or not. The guy is a complete moron. And he belongs somewhere else. He would probably be better off working at McDonald's for the rest of his pitiful life. _

_**I3Helecpoterrides**__: you got that right._

_**~MoneyBags~:**__ Amen to that _

_**Don't_really_care:**__ agreed_

_**Richer_than_you_are:**__ More like cleaning toilets…._

I was startled from reading when I heard a 'thump', like a car door closing outside. Figuring it was Vlad, I quickly closed the program not wanting him to see. Though just because the words weren't visible anymore didn't mean I wasn't simmering on the inside.

Those traitors! I thought that the people being nice to me actually cared! I fell right into their little traps just like they had expected. Like I was the naive little boy they thought I was. My face momentarily got hot with anger. I can't believe I didn't see it. They were using me like a rug and I didn't even know it. They thought they were so smart. Well I wasn't so naive anymore. If they thought I was bellow them, then they were sorely mistaken. I could play their game better than they ever would have expected. They were going to regret ever considering me an idle threat. I was done being lied to, I was done being trusting and forgiving. Nobody appreciated it, or treated me with respect because of it. If people were going to spit in my face, I was going to do the same. If someone wanted me to trust them or give them the benefit of the doubt, then it would have to be hard earned.

I scolded myself for not paying attention to what Vlad had said this morning. He had been right. Though there was only one thing I could do about it now. I had to disprove what they had said. I would be the best at that school; I was going to be unstoppable. They would eat their words and get what was coming to them. I was sick of arrogant jerks taking advantage of me, I was in a new place and I didn't have to let that happen anymore. I was going to stand up for myself and when I did; the people who deserved it were going to fall.


	19. Chapter 19: My Very Own MiniMe

AN:/ Okay well I'm really not sure how to feel about this chapter. I mean I am really not sure. Like I am genuinely confused about it. I Kind of feel like it takes you on a roller-coaster, but i'm not sure if that's okay or not. I dunno. I might take it down and re-do it and i might not, it is all up to you guys. Speaking of you guys, wow you all are way too nice. I mean like seriously holy cow. I got a lot of feedback last chapter, and I just wanted to say thanks. I wish more of you would sign in when you replied so that I could thank you more elaborately for your kind words and perhaps answer some of your questions! I really really appreciate it you guys, especially when you get specific with what you liked and didn't like. It helps me make the story more fun to read for you guys. I just wanted to say thanks. I was really flattered with the amount of feedback I got. You all are too kind.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 19: My Very Own "Mini-Me"

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 11:10PM_

_Edited: Saturday, August 28, 2010, 10:00PM (for better flow and smoother reading)_

_Edited: Saturday, September 4, 2010, 10:07 (Because What-happened-2-nice has grammar vision)  
_

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**Vlad's POV**

"…I do believe that those are all of the companies that I own at this moment. Do you want me to print out the list?" I turned my head to look at Daniel who was furiously copying the list down; looking every two seconds from his paper to the screen. I had turned it so that the both of us could see.

Daniel had been waiting for me when I had gotten home; wanting help with his homework. Of course I had obliged, especially when he specified that it was his business homework he would be needing help with. He had seemed shy about asking for help at first but he quickly became comfortable with asking any question that might pop into his head. When we had started, he had shown me what he was supposed to do, and then what he planned to do. I had to say he was asking a lot of himself. He had said that he was going to base his portfolio entirely off of what mine looked like. I advised him that there would be a lot of work ahead of him if he choose to pursue that option, but he brushed it aside saying that he needed to know about my financial situation anyway. He didn't want to arouse suspicion by not knowing anything about my companies. It was clear I wasn't going to change his mind after that, so I let him continue as he would. He had been copying numbers, lists, and asking questions about business for the past hour and a half. Without pausing from his task he responded.

"Nope I'm fine, I'll remember them better this way. Well, when I come to think of it…do you have that e-mail I had you send that list of stocks to still?" I studied the teen still furiously scribbling for a moment before I responded.

"Of course dear boy, I'll send a copy to your account." When I looked back over from sending a copy to the boys email I found him shaking out his writing hand and his head thrown back. He really didn't have to strain himself like that. I could very easily print or scan him copies of his own. I raised an eyebrow skeptically at the teen before I responded.

"Daniel, you don't have to write so much. I can just as easily print out everything you need." Daniel stopped and sighed; shuffling a couple of papers around. He seemed slightly annoyed with my suggestion; Though it wasn't as if I could blame him. I had made it several times before only to have received the same response. I just didn't like to see my little badger causing himself unnecessary stress, especially when I could relive it with the click of a mouse.

"I've been over this with you Vlad; I need to remember this stuff. If I want to remember it, then I have a better chance of it sticking when I write it down. Okay now next thing, what do all of your companies do, and how did you get them?" I sighed indignantly at the boy as I opened another document.

"Here is a short summary of the functions of all of my companies and how I acquired them. Would you like me to send this one to your e-mail as well while you write this down?" Daniel slowly nodded as he stared wide eyed at the screen. I only smirked in triumph at seeing his expression. He may be stubborn, but he was not his sister when it came to taking notes. The report I had pulled up was in a size ten font, and it went on for more than twenty pages. He sheepishly avoided my gaze when he spoke next.

"I won't make you sit here while I take notes out of all of this. It'll probably take me a while. Could you print that one out, so I can use a highlighter and stuff?" I grinned and went to print everything out for him. While I waited for it to finish printing I watched as Daniel occupied himself by looking over the list of stocks he had copied down earlier. There was something very off about the way the teen was attending to his work. A small frown made its way to my face as I pondered on the subject.

Oh, have no doubt that I was ecstatic when I found Daniel waiting for me when I came home. None the less he wanted help on his homework of all things. I was on cloud nine before the teen threatened to withdrawal his request, forcing me to calm myself. I was very happy that the teen was comfortable asking me for help with these things; especially when I was the best person for the job. If there was anyone who could help him with his Business homework it was me.

No, the problem was that the teen's amount of diligence was extremely out of character, and his homework excuse was barely believable. There was very clearly something else fueling him in his studies. I was nearly certain it was revenge. I had seen that glimmer in his eye and that was all the proof I needed. I had seen it too many times in my own reflection to take it for anything else. It didn't take a psychic to figure that the boy's day had been a hectic one after that phone call this morning.

He must have found that blasted student networking site. I had discovered it on one of my trips to the school. I had gone to make sure the school would be adequate for Daniel's needs. The students there were very careless about their privacy in my opinion, and it had only taken a look over a few shoulders to discover the site. Before I left I had hacked into the program and investigated further. It was nothing but a pool of rumors and gossip. I thought about blocking the site when I built Daniel's laptop, but decided against it. It was better that the boy learned about these types of things himself. Though I was still worried about him; I had kept my phone lines to the office open all day for that reason. Otherwise, William would have found it quite impossible to have accessed my office number so easily.

Daniel was resilient though, and I had no doubt that those who had done him wrong were going to get what was coming to them, if he had decided to take his revenge. It was well known by his ghostly adversaries that Daniel was not someone you wanted to get personally involved with. Though for some reason he refused to defend himself against the bullies at his old school. He had made some distinction that people didn't deserve punishment while ghosts did. I had no idea what had caused this, but I was relieved that the boy had decided to stand up for himself at this new school. We would have to have had a serious talk otherwise. It simply wasn't acceptable that he let himself be belittled like that.

"Vlad? Vlad, can I have the papers?" I blinked coming seamlessly out of my pondering.

"Of course Daniel here you are. Now before you run off you never told me how your day went. I have to say after that surprise call this morning I am rather curious." I could practically see the gears turning in Daniel's head as he paused in getting out of his chair. Hesitantly he put the papers back on the table before he looked back at me.

"Well um it went okay I guess." I nodded encouragingly. He shifted around uncomfortably before he continued. "I mean, I doubt you want a play by play or anything." I just continued to sit patiently while the boy squirmed. It worked perfectly and he was soon giving me the run through. "Okay well… I guess I got there okay. I thought the building was little big, but I got over it. I sent out a duplicate to check the place out while I checked myself in. The secretary was kind of cranky, but I got my stuff and went to go wait for school to start. I waited there for a while and eventually school started. Obviously no one believed that you're my Dad." Daniel paused when he completed that sentence. His face flushed a violent red and he became suddenly interested in his fingernails. My face had gone pale before color started to return to my face. My eyes remained locked on Daniel as he avoided my gaze. He had just called me his Dad! Without any hesitation or sarcasm! I simply could not peel the ecstatic smile off of my face if I tried. He had called me his father! I don't care if it was on accident. I don't care if he tries to deny it. He had said it! Daniel's voice had raised an octave as he stuttered back to life.

"R-right and uh then that whole thing in the hallway happened and you know what went down there." I just nodded and tried to give my full attention back to what he was saying. He had said I was his father and he wasn't going to try to cover it up! He meant it! "Right uh, and then I went to Chemistry. That wasn't so bad. It was a lot like messing around in my parent's lab only without the horrible side effects to my ghost half. After that I went to Pre-Calc, which was a real headache. I was thinking about going to the teacher and asking for help getting caught up. I have no clue what they're doing in there." Daniel paused again. I was trying desperately to continue normally with the conversation we had been having, but it was incredibly difficult. For the boy's sake I shouldn't make a huge deal out of this, he was obviously already thoroughly embarrassed. I managed to gain control of myself enough to get the discussion going once more.

"You can always ask me for help with your other homework as well Daniel. I'd be more than happy to lend you a hand or at least point you in the direction of someone who would be able to help." Daniel just awkwardly muttered a 'thanks' before he continued.

"Yeah anyway, after Pre-Calc I went to Comp Lit. That was pretty easy next to Pre-Calc. Then I went to Lunch…" I gave the boy a curious look when he trailed off. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he started to speak again. "Uh, thanks for the private dining room. It was really nice." My face softened and butterflies ran rampant in my stomach. I truly did love the boy in front of me.

"Of course dear boy. After things this morning, I highly doubted you would have liked everyone staring at you while you tried to eat_. I_ find it increasingly annoying. I was only making arrangements for you that I would have made for myself. You hardly deserve to be gawked at like an animal." I rolled my eyes flippantly as I recalled all of the times I had been forced to sit where everyone could see me. The whispering and staring really _do_ get old. My heart warmed again when I saw the boy smile. I would never get tired of that!

"Anyway after Lunch I went to Chinese." In the span of the time it took to say that sentence, Daniel had gone from shy to indignant. I lowered my eyebrows confused.

"What's wrong?" Daniel sighed, annoyed.

"Vlad, what were you thinking signing me up for that class. It wasn't even the fist level class. Everyone in there is Asian and knows at least something of what the teacher is saying; who I might add speaks only in Chinese when class is in session. I mean really? Chinese? When am I ever going to use that? Why couldn't I be in like, Latin or something? At least then I could be confused with everyone else." I frowned.

"Daniel, you would have stuck out like a sore thumb in Latin. It's a dead language; you would have known more than the teacher." He just stared at me like I should be institutionalized. I wondered for a moment why he was staring at me like that when it dawned on me. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. He'd had his ghost powers for over two years now, how is it that he still was unaware of this?

"You don't know about dead languages do you?" I took my hand down from my face to watch Daniel shake his head back and forth. I let my shoulders slump. Well better that he learn late than never. I shouldn't have expected him to know. He only just now had someone like me to fill him in on these sorts of things.

"Daniel, all ghosts can speak, and are fluent in, dead languages." Daniel continued to stare at me like I was insane though he did seem to start to understand. I continued to elaborate, hoping the boy would catch on.

"Ghosts are dead, so it makes sense that when a language dies, that ghosts would be able to speak it. All ghosts can understand each other because of this. It doesn't matter if you've never heard anything Latin in your life you have the ability to understand it because you are a ghost. Does this make sense?" Daniel stared off into space for a moment before he slowly nodded in contemplation.

"Yeah… I think I got it. So when a langue dies, it becomes a ghost language?" I nodded and smiled slightly. He took a breath before he asked for confirmation. "So I can understand or speak any dead language?" I smiled at the boy.

"Etiam Daniel , ullus mortuus lingua."

_"Yes Daniel, any dead language."_

The boy recoiled and looked at me with wide eyes.

"That was Latin… and I understood what you said! How the heck did I know that?" I laughed lightly.

"इत'स बेकसुए यौ'रे हल्फ़ घोस्त दनिएल्। य़ौ मेन तो तेल्ल् मे तहत यौ हवे नेवेर रन इन्तो अ घोस्त तहत हस स्पोकेन अ देअद लङ्गुअगे तो यौ?"

_"It's because you're half ghost Daniel. You mean to tell me you've never run into a ghost that has spoken a dead language to you?" _

The poor boy just stared at me for a second before he came back to his senses. Clearly still in shock over the fact that he could understand exactly what I was telling him.

"नो, एवेर्योने हस अल्वय्स-" He stopped and put a hand over his mouth. "दिद I दो तहत! थिस इस सो वेइर्द!"

_"No, everyone has always-" "How did I do that! This is so weird!"_

I just outright laughed at the boy's reaction. This was too hilarious. I hadn't laughed this genuinely in a long time. (For the sake of the reader they will be switching back to English.)

"You must have subconsciously switched to Sanskrit when you heard me speak enough of it. It _is_ good etiquette to change what language you are speaking in to match the person who has started the conversation. Human or ghost. Now as far as putting you in Chinese instead of Latin, it is wise to know more than one _modern_ language when you associate with people of as many backgrounds as I do. Americans are often looked down upon for their ignorance of other languages. I would like to be able to say that you know another language besides English. Eventually I would like to teach you other languages also. However in the business world it is most evident that you learn Chinese first." I resisted sighing when the boy seemed offended with something I said. It seemed I couldn't go too ling without offending the boy in some way, whether I wished to or not. It honestly was distressing for me to think that I couldn't converse with the teen without making the teen upset with me. He promptly let me know what was causing him so much distress.

"I already know more than one language Vlad." He looked slightly proud when I adopted a surprised expression. I was aware he had taken a year of Spanish at his old school, but I was under the impression that he was absent from class so often that he was barely passing. However, I had learned my lesson about dismissing what the boy said automatically. I would hear what he had to say before I validated that he was lying to make himself look smarter.

"What language would that be?" He hesitated for a brief moment before he told me.

"E-Esperanto." Well that certainly wasn't what I had been expecting. Most people didn't even know that Esperanto was a language. I raised an eyebrow before I replied. We'd see how much Esperanto he knew.

"Kial sur la tero vi devus lerni lingvon de tiu speco?"

_"Why on earth would you need to learn a language like that?"_

He raised a slightly surprised eyebrow right back at me. Obviously surprised I knew the language as well.

"Mi devis lerni ĝin tiel mi povis paroli al Wulf."

_" I had to learn it to talk to Wulf."_

I was now slightly impressed and confused all at the same time; and I fully intended on curing my confusion.

"Who is this Wulf person?" Daniel looked at his hands sheepishly, as if he wasn't sure if he should be sharing this information. His caution made me pay close attention when he finally spoke.

"Wulf is a ghost werewolf I know. He's one of my allies in the ghost zone. He's a good one to have too." I was still somewhat confused but I was prevented from asking any further questions when Daniel himself adopted a confused expression.

"Wait a minute well then why couldn't I understand Wulf? He's a ghost I should have been able to understand him right?" I gave the boy a bemused look.

"I'm afraid if I am going to help you. I will need you to elaborate on the situation." He looked uncertain for a moment before he decided on something. Most likely if it was safe to tell me this little tidbit of information as well. I internally sighed as I watched the boy battle with confiding in me. It still stung in a way that he was hesitant to share his encounters with me. Daniel quickly made up his mind, fortunately for me he had decided to clue me in on his expeditions.

"About a year and a half ago now, Walker invaded Amity and overshadowed everyone in town so that he could get revenge on me for breaking out of prison." My eyebrows shot up to my hairline, but I let the boy continue. "He enslaved this other ghost, his name is Wulf, to come find me and bring me back to him. Wulf can tear portals between the Ghost Zone and the human world. Anyway, we ended up freeing him from Walker and he helped us send Walker back to the Ghost Zone. It was really frustrating though, because Wulf only spoke Esperanto and only Tucker could understand a little bit of what he was saying." I would have to remember this Walker character. If I ever ran into him in the Ghost Zone he was going to answer for his radical actions. I knew ghosts tended to be obsessive, but his actions seemed rash. Coming back to the issue at hand I nodded, before I explained what was causing the boy confusion.

"Well I have no idea why this Wulf didn't just speak in a dead language to try to communicate when it was clear you didn't understand him. But the reason that you didn't understand what he was saying was because the language he was speaking wasn't a dead one. Ghosts have to learn to speak 'live' languages just like humans do. Though it may be a little easier because they can speak the language that the one they are learning was based off of." Daniel nodded as understanding dawned over his face.

"Yeah that makes sense." He fidgeted for a moment with the cuffs of his shirt before he looked back up at me. "I still don't get why you put me in Chinese though. I mean I would catch on quicker with something I'm a little more familiar with, like Spanish." I sighed again and went into explaining things for the teen once more. If the teen really detested the class so much I could move him out of it, but I would like him to give it more of a chance. It really was in his best interest that he did.

"Daniel, in a business career, Chinese is a very good language to know; especially in my kind of business. Besides you'll catch on quickly, I have no doubt." Daniel just shook his head but said nothing further, indicating he didn't want to elaborate on the subject. I was secretly thankful he had dropped the subject. He would warm up to it eventually, especially when he would get the chance to use his ghost tongue to his advantage. It wouldn't be long before he was at the top of the class. Daniel situated himself in his chair while shooting apprehensive glances towards me. He then started to take up his papers once more.

"Vlad I have to get to the rest of my homework and finish this." My mood instantly saddened. I knew he had to leave and he was being responsible, but since when was he so on top of his homework? Couldn't he stay just a little while longer? Daniel must have noticed my mood shift because he was soon reassuring me of his intentions.

"Vlad, I'm not going away forever. When I'm done we could even go and train if you want; just as long as we don't do any combat. I'll probably need to blow off some steam by then anyway." I nodded, now slightly distracted by the prospect of working with Daniel on his powers. Before the end of our last session Daniel had showed immense potential. He also had a few tricks up his sleeve that I hadn't thought of. I was very anxious to get him back in the training room so that I could hone his technique. Daniel got out of his chair and I turned, preoccupied, back to my computer; opening up a few documents so that I could get to work. On a whim I engaged in a few parting words.

"I dare say Daniel, that at this rate you'll be prepared to take over my position in no time; though whether or not you want to, is still up to you. You'll inherit my fortune either way I suppose." I paused to look up when I heard Daniel halt in his retreat. I didn't like the look Daniel was giving me. His eyes were filled with suspicion and curiosity, but even behind all of that I didn't miss the hint of fear there as well.

"What are you trying to pull Vlad?" I casually gave Daniel my attention once again, hoping to erase whatever thoughts of panic or confusion that were running through his head.

"I'm not 'pulling' anything Daniel. I'm merely stating the facts. It's not a secret that I would prefer that you succeed me in my position, but if you would like to pursue a different profession, then that is fine as well. Either way you will be the sole benefactor to all of my wealth when I die. That's assuming that half-ghosts can die. And _I am_ assuming we still retain that privilege because we have continued to age normally, besides the fact that you have yet to hit a growth spurt." I became slightly worried when Daniel was clearly in too much shock to register my jab at his height, or lack thereof. Finally he stuttered to life.

"But I thought… But what about…" I waited patiently for the teen to find the words he was looking for. "You _actually_ want me to take over your companies? And what about all of your money, I mean you've got to have someone closer to you than me to give it to. You say all that stuff like you're expecting to keel over tomorrow. I mean you're still got a while to live right! You're not gonna just die and leave me to deal with all of this by myself! You _can't_ just die and leave me here by myself! I've never had money before Vlad, I don't know how to handle it! I haven't even finished high school yet! And what about.-"

"Daniel!" I gently but firmly grabbed the teen's shoulders. During the teen's panicked rant I had gotten out of my own chair to go and comfort him. The teen looked panicked and confused up at me in fleeting glances. He was getting the very wrong impression of what I had meant. "First of all I am _not_ going to die and leave you here alone. Do you understand me? I do _not_ intend to die anytime soon." I searched the boy's eyes to see if he understood, relaxing my grip when I saw that he had calmed slightly. "As for inheriting everything I own; yes in my will you are specified as the sole benefactor. I cannot think of anyone who would be more responsible or is more deserving of my wealth." The boy looked helplessly up at me like he didn't know what to say; obviously being torn in several different directions. I smiled sadly at the teen's confusion and continued. "_If_ you decide that you would like to take my position when I _retire,_ that is _before _I die; then I will take you under my wing and I can help you learn how to run everything. Then when I feel you are ready, I will step down, and even after you have assumed ultimate control you may still ask me for advice or help. That is a long time from now and is not anything to get worked up about now." The boy only nodded; clearly at a loss with what to do with this information. There were still traces of panic in his eyes as they flitted around the room and fearfully avoided my gaze. I could not allow that to continue.

"Daniel, look at me." I made my eyes as soft and confident as I could. He needed to know that I was serious; that I was going to be there for him. The teen nervously met my gaze, and as soon as he did I could feel his muscles relax under my hands. "I am not ever going to leave you. You won't have to deal with any of this by yourself. I am always going to be here when you need someone to protect you. I will always be here to help you when you need it. Nothing is going to change that. Absolutely, nothing. " I kept my eyes locked on his; forcing him to get a handle on himself, and take in what I had said. He took several deep breaths and nodded solemnly under my firm gaze. I held onto his attention for a moment longer before I let go of his shoulders and guided him towards the door.

"I'll come find you in a few hours alright? I'm going to get some more work done while you finish up with your homework for tonight." It was a moment before he responded.

"Okay, I'll probably be in my room then." I rested my hand on the door knob as the boy stepped out into the hallway, and sent the boy a reassuring nod. Quietly, I clicked the door shut behind me and went back to sit heavily in my desk chair.

I kneaded my forehead as I thought through the boy's predicament. I really should have been more careful of what I said to the teen. It was foolish of me to bring up the prospect of putting more responsibility on his shoulders when he was already dealing with so much in his life. I was an idiot to have assumed he would have already known about his inheritance. I knew that the boy was unfamiliar with wealth and the customs that came with it. It had not been wise to speak about it so casually or so suddenly. I thought it was obvious, to my own defense.. Just who else, exactly, was I going to leave everything to? My parents had already passed, and even if they were alive I doubt that they would accept anything from me without suspicion. Not that they deserved a penny of what I had either way.

I closed my eyes in frustration as thoughts of my family ran through my head. It was disgusting really, the parallels that existed between Daniel and I now. I knew exactly what kind of pain it was to have your family reject you. The people you thought would always love you no matter what; terrified and angry with your very existence. My parents had not taken kindly to the revelation that I was half ghost when I had told them.

My parents were very heavily religious; Catholics through and through. Everyday of my childhood my father would sit us all down to dinner and read a passage from the bible before we all prayed. Pictures of the Virgin Marry were right next to family portraits and my school pictures. The only channels I was allowed to watch were C-SPAN and Live videos from the Vatican. Instead of hanging some fuzzy dice around the rear-view mirror, my mother preferred to keep rosary beads there. My parents made me carry around a bible with all of my other text books during school. We all went to church on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. All of that was just the tip of the iceberg. However, I didn't know any different, and I still loved my parents. They had never done anything to me to indicate that they didn't love me. They always praised me for my good deeds and made sure I knew they were proud of me. Besides the fact that they were often looked down upon for there extreme ways they were regular parents. I had realized early on that a lot of other people thought we were over the top, but that hadn't mattered to me much. They were still my parents. I had still believed that they would love me before everything else.

However just because _I_ believed that they would always love me didn't make it true. If a child believes in Santa Claus, does that mean he is real? No it does not. That child's faith does not change the fact that "jolly old Saint Nick" is non-existent; Just as my faith in my parents love had no effect over whether they accepted me or not. I had been wrong. They valued their religion so much that they couldn't put it aside to love their own son. To them I was a prophet of the devil. They believed that I was 'tainted with evil', that I had been 'touched by Satan'. To them I was infected and diseased. They never looked at me, after I had told them, without fear or pity. My mother cried every night because of what I was to them. She would morn the loss of her son's purity every night. They only saw me as an abomination, a freak. To them I was as good as dead. They couldn't accept a person so 'obviously' touched by Satan as their son. Nothing had been able to change their minds, not the good deeds I committed with my powers, not my continued faith, not scientific research, even the word of our priest was not enough to convince them that I was still _me_. I knew exactly how hard it was to watch your parents, the people who had raised you and supposedly loved you without doubt, reject you so solidly.

That was not, unfortunately, where the similarities between me and Daniel ended. No, there was the betrayal of friends to consider as well. Those blasted vultures had gotten back to me with the news. If there was one thing they were good at, it was collecting gossip. I knew that Daniel's friends were apparently 'together'; though that was about as much as I was willing to solidly believe. Gossip was hardly accurate; especially the gossip of teenagers. However that fact seemed to crop up repeatedly in their reports.

The similarity between Daniel's lost love and mine were eerily familiar. I knew too, what it was to watch the person you loved choose someone else; despite all that you had done to prove that you were the one who truly cared. I had thought I'd shown Maddie that I cared. Apparently though, my efforts had gone unnoticed. She had been completely oblivious to my attempts to show her that I loved her or even considered her a good friend. It was the only explanation for why she and Jack had left me in a hospital to rot because of something that was _their fault_.

Jack and Maddie had not visited me in that hospital once. Not one time had they come to see if I was okay, if I was feeling better. Not once. By the time I was out of the Hospital, Jack and Maddie were already engaged. It seemed they had completely disregarded the friendship I had with them beforehand. They had moved on with their happy lives without a care for what their mistake had done to me. They had treated me like I was some old piece of furniture they didn't want anymore. I knew _exactly_ what Daniel was going through. I knew every twist of pain that had torn at his heart, every thought of betrayal, every pit of overwhelming sadness.

I was bound and determined to see him through this. What he needed right now was someone he knew was going to be there no matter what. He needs a person to be his foundation; to accept him fully and completely for his entire person. I knew exactly what he needed because that was what I had needed. That was what I had craved. In a time when you feel so alone all you want is company; is for someone to understand. For someone to stand by you and tell you that they are going to be there.

I was going to be that person for Daniel. I had to be. There was too much we had in common; it couldn't be anyone else. I could help him build a new life. I could never make the scars go away from what his family and friends had done to him. That much, I knew, was impossible; but I could show him that he still had a lot to live for. That we still had each other to take care of. I had to make sure he knew that I was willing to be his new family if he would be willing to be a part of mine.


	20. Chapter 20: Daniel Sleeps like the Dead

AN:/ I redid the other chapter, so if you want you can go an re-read that. It's not necessary for the story but i think you might like it better than what i had before. Now, you get to see more of what is going on in Vlad's head and i made the transitions form one subject to the next smoother. I am much happier with this version than I am with the old one. This Chapter we get to see more from Vlad and what he's doing. I really like the end. Hopefully you all will too. I hope you don't think I'm hurrying their relationship along too fast, granted I do leave room for a lot of interpretation in this chapter as far as what Danny _actually thinks_ goes. i hope you all like this chapter, though it is a little short in comparison others. I don't exactly know when I'll be updating next so be patient. ENJOY!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 20: Daniel Sleeps like the Dead

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, August 28, 2010, 10:09PM_

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**Vlad's POV.**

I yawned slightly as I flew deeper into the Ghost Zone. My ghost form subconsciously collected energy for the surrounding atmosphere as I pressed onward to compensate for my tired state. Daniel was fast asleep in his bed, oblivious to my whereabouts. He was exhausted after we had trained for two hours or so. The boy had endurance I had to give him that. It was only because we had practiced higher energy attacks at a _very _vigorous pace that he had started to fade. It had been a challenge to get him to tire. He had stamina and knew how to pace himself. Though, however difficult it had been to get the teen to a point where I knew he would _stay_ asleep, I had gotten him there; which left me free to continue my search while he slept.

This was the twelfth night now, I believe, that I had gone into the Ghost Zone on my search. Daniel's journal was clipped securely to my belt in case I needed to reference anything, though I doubted I would. I had already read through it several times and the only things I had found about the location of this infamous Clockwork were that he lived in a tower, and that there was a lot of ticking. Neither of those pieces of information were helpful to me at the moment. Daniel had been very careful to _not _mention anything of relevance about this being.

It had very briefly crossed my mind to ask Daniel about 'Clockwork' directly, but as I said that was only briefly. Just based on what I had read, Daniel was very uncomfortable with the subject. I did not want to jeopardize the relationship I had built with the boy because of some curiosity. He may have also become suspicious as to why I was asking about such an obscure character. I doubted he would conclude the truth, which was that I had read his diary, but it was very likely he would lose a good deal of the trust he had built in me. That was definitely something I wanted to avoid.

I was going to have to work with what I already knew. There was very little Daniel had written about the being specifically, but there were a few things that continually popped up when the ghost was mentioned. Daniel constantly praised the being for some enormous favor he had done for the teen. He obviously very heavily idolized the ghost, more so than anyone else in his life. From Daniel's description, he was also a very wise, if not cryptic, being. If this ghost was anything like Daniel described, I would have to tread carefully. He seemed to be very powerful. Hopefully my caution would be unnecessary. Daniel also associated this ghost heavily with second chances or forgiveness. Despite the traits I had already mentioned, the thing he most mentioned in concert with this being was _him._

I didn't know who this _him _was. He was only ever referred to with a pronoun and very little was said about him. Out of the entire book all that I could piece together was that Daniel was extremely terrified of him, and that this Clockwork had been the one that helped to stop him. Upon closer examination I had even found tear stains on the pages that referred to this _him._ It was unsettling to think that Daniel would be so afraid of something.

I was fairly certain however that _I_ was not who Daniel was referring to. Daniel never hesitated to refer to me in any number of colorful ways whenever I was mentioned elsewhere. I found it unlikely that Daniel would avoid using my name in one passage and not in others. As grateful as I was that I wasn't the cause of Daniel's fears, it was only that much more disconcerting.

The mentions of _him_ only made me certain I needed to find this Clockwork. It was obvious that Daniel connected the two for some reason. What was troubling further was that he viewed one in a god like sense and the other as something terrifying. It was very clear to me that to get any answers I was going to have to find this Clockwork.

Yet, that seemed to be an impossible task at the moment. I had no hint of direction to follow whatsoever. My plan, currently, was to scan the area within a reasonable distance of the Fenton portal. My reasoning was that for Daniel to have visited this being on a regular basis he would have to have been located within a reasonable flying distance. However I had been searching for a little less than two weeks now and had not come up with anything. Besides the lairs of some of Daniel's regular adversaries, there was nothing that resembled a tower, nor was there any amount of ticking.

I was beginning to consider Plan B as a more plausible option. It certainly made more sense and would take a great deal less time and effort. There were considerably more obstacles to overcome with that option however.

It quite a simple plan really; I would only need to acquire the Infi-map once more, and ask it to take me to Clockwork. Short, sweet, and to the point. However there were some very obvious difficulties that would need accounting for. Such as the people of the Far Frozen who guarded the map. I would be able to defeat them if need be; I had no doubt. Unlike before I would be prepared for an attack instead of being taken by surprise. After that particular incident I had taken it upon myself to come up with a few ways to combat cryokinesis. I had also had my fair share of countering the ability with Daniel.

Another thing to consider was that I had no idea whether this Clockwork person would be happy to see me or not. Thus I had to take into account, time for a battle with him as well. Both The People of the Far Frozen and 'Clockwork' seemed to be formidable foes. The problem with this was that I could not come up with an alibi to be absent for that amount of time; nor did I want to leave Daniel unattended and unable to contact me for that long. If I chose to go with this plan I would like to be certain that Daniel was safe and that he would not be suspicious of my whereabouts. I needed a window of about five hours that Daniel would not be in danger or be suspicious if I were absent.

It would all be a matter of the right timing, I suppose. I would have to wait for the opportunity to present itself before I could take it. Scanning my surroundings, I decided to head back towards my own portal. I was finding nothing this way. I would have to get my hands on that Infi-map if I wanted to get anywhere; I just had to be patient and wait for the time to be right before I could act. I sighed. I suppose I could wait, I was _very_ accustom to waiting.

* * *

I had quickly and uneventfully made my way back to my mansion. I was in my ghost form about to change back to my human form so I could sleep for the night, when my ghost hearing picked up a short cry. I halted in my actions and listened closer. There were a number of possibilities that ran through my mind and none of them were good. Daniel was supposed to be asleep, but it was possible he was up and wandering around looking for me. It would not bode well if he had discovered I was not in my room. It couldn't be the maids, I had sent them all home for the day, and none of them would be stumbling around in the dark. The third possibility was that there was someone in my home that wasn't supposed to be here. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to break into my mansion. Plenty of petty thieves had tried to break in to steal what wasn't theirs. Typically all that they needed was a good scare. I hadn't had a thief in years because of the rumors that spread of the "vampire ghost" that haunted the property.

I suppressed my ghost signature, while going intangible, and invisible. No matter what the situation I wanted to have the element of surprise, especially if it was an intruder. I floated at a decent pace towards the area I had thought the noise originated from. I frowned when I realized it had come from the direction of Daniel's room. I hoped Daniel was alright or that he hadn't been woken by any wayward thieves.

My ghostly core sent tendrils of fear through my veins when the implications of that thought hit me. There could be someone here holding Daniel against his will and I hadn't been here to stop them! Light fixtures, which had been turned off, dimly glowed with the electrical energy I had sent out in waves of anger. Oh they were going to _pay_. They had better hope to whatever deity they believed in that Daniel might try to convince me to show mercy. For as of now the devil would be more forgiving than I.

I froze momentarily when I heard the noise again only louder. I finally recognized it for what it was. I had heard that noise before. That was what Daniel had sounded like when he had cried into my chest his fist day here.

Once again, still being as stealthy as possible, I shot towards Daniel's room. I arrived in the dark space and searched with hot red eyes for the person who might be causing my Daniel so much pain… only to find no one. My heart slowed slightly when upon closer examination I found Daniel's room, even in the room's attached, empty. The only person besides me that was in the room was Daniel, shaking and shivering in silent sobs, clutching to the covers.

I walked towards the teen now deeply troubled as to why he was in so much distress. The moonlight caught itself in the trails of tears that had made the trip down Daniels cheek. You could see his eyes flicker to their ghostly green, even beneath his closed eye lids, in his distress.

He was only asleep and apparently having a terrible nightmare. I reached out to touch the trembling teen when I remembered Daniel did not take kindly to being woken by ghosts. Still keeping my signature suppressed, as not to set off his ghost sense, I changed back to my human form. The black rings of my transformation not giving off near as much light as the boys own bright blue ones.

I internally debated waking the teen. It would most likely not bode well for me to wake him when he was in such a frightened state of mind. He was getting better about not jumping out of bed when I woke him up. He wasn't punching or shooting ecto-blasts anymore, but he still became startled. I was distracted from my internal debate when the poor boy whimpered pitifully once more and clung helplessly to his covers. Damn the consequences; awake was better than whatever he was putting himself through! I gently reached out to shake his shoulder.

"Daniel." As soon as I had spoken and given him a tiny squeeze Daniel stopped heaving in silent sobs. His hand shot to garb mine on his shoulder and he held it there in a vice like grip. His eyes glowed brilliantly behind his eyelids. His face hardened into a look of anger as he registered my voice and my hand on his shoulder. I desperately tried to calm the boy.

"Daniel It's okay." After I had spoken a second time his eyes faded; though his grip was still strong. He moved his other hand to grab onto my arm also. A look between relief and worry played out over his face.

"Vlad." I smiled slightly at the teen. My heart was pounding in my ears. The debate to wake him started in my head once more only for completely different reasons. Though as much as I wanted him to stay like this; needing my protection, I couldn't let him stay in that nightmare. I tried to pull my hand away from his grip while I spoke to him again.

"Daniel wake up dear boy you're having a nightmare." The only thing he seemed to register was the fact that my hand was moving away. He tightened his grip on my wrist to the point where it would have left an ordinary person bruised. I quit trying to pull away my wrist for the sake of my health. Daniel now looked desperate as he spoke next.

"Stay." I sighed and looked down at the teen. He clung to me like I was his only connection to life itself. I lightly tried to tug away again; only for him to protest desperately.

"Please!" I shook my head and stopped trying to regain possession of my hand so that Daniel would loosen up his grip. I was starting to lose circulation to my fingers.

…

Daniel had now held my hand captive for a solid hour and I was getting tired of playing this game. I had tried everything to try to get him to wake up short of setting off his ghost sense, which I knew would have disastrous consequences. I sighed and looked down at the teen sleeping happily away; keeping his grip solidly on my wrist. My feet had started to hurt and my knees were starting to lock up.

"You know this really isn't fair Daniel. I have to wake up just as early as you do." The only reaction I got was a light squeeze around my wrist. I really did need to get some sleep. This was starting to become ridiculous. I tried one more time to pull away my wrist.

"Daniel! Wake up!" He only renewed his vice like grip and contorted his face with frustration. I rolled my eyes. It was evident by now that I was not escaping his hold. I had even gone intangible, only for him to have gone intangible right along with me. My legs and back complained loudly from standing in the same spot for so long. A while ago I had tried sitting down on the edge of the bed, only for Daniel to have curled himself around me. Finding that extremely counterproductive I had reluctantly stood back up. I was struggling to keep my eyes open and desperately needed to get some sleep. I finally made up my mind. I would just have to pray that I woke up before he did.

I took off my shoes with my feet and phased my tie and jacket off with my free hand so that I was comfortable. Lightly I pushed the teen so that there was enough room for me at the edge of the bed. At my prodding he scooted over with an annoyed look on his face. I debated for a moment longer whether this was a good idea before I cautiously sat down and got under the covers. The entire time Daniel never let up on my wrist, and continued to sleep away, completely oblivious. I reached over his small form and grabbed a few extra pillows for myself. I apprehensively watched the teen to see if he would show any signs of waking with all of the moving I was doing, but none were to be found. I finally let myself relax enough to try to get some shut-eye.

Sleep was very close to taking me when I felt air around my wrist for the first time in over an hour. I fearfully looked to the teen only to find him now sneaking his arms tightly around my waist. I raised an eyebrow as his head hung awkwardly from his shoulders in his new position. I sighed again before I grabbed another pillow to stuff under his head so he wouldn't have any cramps in the morning.

"I know I said I would always be here to protect you Daniel, I just didn't think that would mean from your dreams as well." The teen only snuggled closer to my chest and said something into the pillow that I only just caught.

"I- ove- u-ad"

I know he could have said a number of things, but I could have sworn that he said.

"_I love you Dad."_


	21. Chapter 21: We Are Family?

AN:/ Another quick update for you. I don't know why but it didn't save my formatting when I posted so don't freak out. Oh and just as a heads up I'll be starting school here in a couple of days so updates may slow down. just be patient. As difficult as that may seem to some of you. alright well i guess i really don't have anything else to say. Enjoy.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 21: We Are Family?

by:deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, September 4, 2010, 10:04PM_

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**IMPORTANT:** Vlad woke up before Danny and managed to get out of Danny's grasp without him waking up. I didn't want to wiggle that super awkward "I'm gonna wake up and i'm cuddling with Vlad Masters" scene in there. because I'm lazy and I think Vlad is perfectly capable of getting out of this situation scott free, because he's Vlad. If enough People complain, I'll write the scene but i won't put it in the story i'll just PM it to all the people who were angry. There that's all you need to know.

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**Danny's POV**

"_Daniel! You need to wake up!" _ I groaned and rolled away from the far-away voice. It sounded angry and I did not want to deal with "angry" right now. I wanted to sleep.

"_Daniel this is your last chance!" _I continued to remain immobile. Couldn't this voice see that I was tired and that I wanted to be left alone? I waited a couple of moments expecting more shouting, as that had been the pattern so far.

_ZZZZA_AP!

My eyes shot open, a brilliant green. I instantly whipped around and grabbed the hand of my attacker; focusing only long enough on the person's center-of-mass to shoot a powerful ecto-blast.

"Daniel!"

The person only dodged out of the way after slipping from my grasp. I blinked a few times as I registered that the voice was Vlad's and that I was in my pajamas still. I sighed and slumped back to my pillow. I really had to stop doing that. Now officially out of "attack whatever is waking me up mode" I was getting a headache from moving so fast so suddenly. Maybe if I just went back to sleep for a minute it would go away.

"Daniel don't even think about going back to bed. Sit up this instant." I sighed and begrudgingly obeyed. I rubbed my eye as I looked at Vlad. He was of course, all ready for the day, just as always. He stood over me as I took in my surroundings and got my bearings. I spotted a very large burnt hole in the wall and cringed; slowly looking back to Vlad.

"Sorry about the-"

"Daniel, we've been over this every morning since you've arrived. I will not be accepting any apologies. You are incredibly hard to get to wake up dear boy. It was only as a last resort that I gave you a little jolt. You actually took it much better than I expected. Now, I need you to get up. You have to go to school today and I have to be to work." A whole host of emotions welled up inside me when he mentioned school. I didn't know how to sort through them all. Mostly I was dreading going though. I really didn't want to deal with those people right now. Vlad must have noticed because he opened his mouth to question me.

"Is something wrong Daniel?" I avoided eye contact and shook my head. This was something I didn't want him 'helping' me with.

"No I'm fine." Vlad just gave me a 'do you really expect me to believe that' look but left it alone. He told me when to be down to breakfast like he always did as he walked towards the door .

"Well now that you are finally awake I will see you down at breakfast in about twenty minutes." I stretched and nodded; pretty used to this routine by now.

"Okay I'll see ya then." With that Vlad left the room and I was alone. I sat mindlessly on the bed for a minute before I started to move towards the bathroom to take a shower. As I went through my morning routine I tried to remember this dream I had had last night.

It was a very weird dream. It had been a nightmare, at least at first. Nightmares were nothing new though. What was weird was that it had gone away after a little bit and turned into a good dream. I had _a lot_ of nightmares in this past year and they _never_ turned into good dreams. They only went on and on until I got so freaked out that I woke up, or Jazz heard me scream and came to wake me up. Some people say that sometimes you can control your dreams and change them and stuff but that's never happened to me; at least not with any nightmare I've ever had. I can be completely aware that I'm dreaming and I still won't be able to snap myself out of it. I mean, I've been having these hardcore nightmares for the past year, and me and Jazz have done everything to try to get rid of them. Then tonight I have one and it just stops being a nightmare right in the middle of it. This dream was weird because in all of the nightmares I've ever had, I've never had one that just stopped. I grabbed a towel after I turned myself intangible in the shower to get all of the water off. Just because I was dry didn't mean I wasn't cold… or a little self conscious.

I shook my head as I opened up the door to the room all of my clothes were in. It was just a stupid dream I guess. I didn't want to question the _good things_ that happened to me anyways. I reached over to my left and found the light switch on the wall. I had hesitated in calling this room a closet because it was about as big as my old bedroom. Vlad had all of my clothes moved to this room after I had picked which bedroom I wanted.

I paused for a minute when I realized something. Today was the first day I had been allowed to pick out my own clothes. Up until now, I either hadn't known where they were or I had to wear something else. A smile lit up my face and I started walking towards the less formal side of the closet. You couldn't exactly call any of the stuff in here 'casual'. I was about to grab a pair of jeans when I remembered a couple of things.

First of all, was that I was that the school had a dress code, and a very strict one. I had eventually gotten my hands on a student handbook yesterday and they had thought of every loophole. Second was that I would look like an idiot wearing what I usually wore, and that wouldn't help me in my mission to let everyone know who they were messing with. The third thing I thought of surprised me but I had already thought it before I could stop myself. That was that Vlad wouldn't be very impressed with me if I wore jeans, converse, and an unbuttoned oxford.

I sighed and turned toward the suits at the other end of the closet. I don't know why it was so important that Vlad liked what I was wore now, but it was. He had dropped a huge bomb on me last night when he told me he wanted me to take his place when he retired. I mean, I knew he wanted me as a son and stuff, but I guess I really didn't get that he really actually _meant it._ He really truthfully wanted me to be his _son_. I really didn't know how to feel about that. It made my stomach do all kinds of flip flops when I thought about it. I had never really had anyone want to be around me that much. On the one hand the fact that Vlad wanted me to be his son was a little creepy and freaked me out, but on the other hand I really liked the attention. I'd never had anyone actively care that much about me before. It was cool to have someone think you were the best thing ever and want to take care of you. I mean my family had cared about me a lot but there was just something different about Vlad. My family was required to take care of me, Vlad didn't have to and he did anyway because he wanted to. Last night it had finally hit home that Vlad really did care, and not just because I was half ghost like him. He had enough faith in who I was as a person to think that his companies would be safe when he was gone if I was the one running them. He trusted, and liked me enough to give me everything he has; and he wasn't even waiting until he died! He'd already said a couple times that I had access to everything he had access to.

My parents had talked a couple of times about taking over the "Family Business" some day, but the way they talked about; it was different. They had always made it very clear that we had very little choice in what we were going to do when we got older. I mean they never specifically said "We expect you are going to take over Fenton Works when you get older" but they had come pretty close. Vlad made sure to let me know it was _my_ decision whether I wanted to follow his career or not. My parents never used words like "if"_._ I knew Vlad wanted me to take over his companies but he'd also made it very clear that it was up to me. I'd never really had that choice before and it felt really cool. In a way it made me feel more independent, like I could make my own decisions. I really didn't like business all that much, but I kind of was considering what he was offering me. Vlad thought I could do it, and if he thought I could do it, I was pretty sure I could. Vlad was never afraid to be blunt about what he thought a person was capable of. The fact that he wanted me to do it made me feel really important.

All of this really made me want to show Vlad that he didn't make a bad choice in believing in me so much. I wanted to make sure that I didn't disappoint him after he had shown he had so much faith in me. I definitely didn't want him to think that I didn't care. I did care; a lot. I don't know when it happened but it suddenly mattered that Vlad thought I was doing a good job. I didn't want him to think that I thought that everything he was doing for me was some joke. I mean, after all he's done for me, I want him to know that I'm serious about this stuff too. And one of the ways I could show him I was taking him seriously was to get my act together. I could show him that I could do a good job. Being the best at this business stuff became that much more important than it was before. It wasn't just for me anymore. I was doing it so that Vlad would see that he had made a good choice in believing in me.

I reached for a black suit I thought looked the nicest and tried really hard not to wrinkle it as I put it on. I buttoned everything up, tucked everything in; I even brushed all of the invisible dust off of it like Vlad did. I thought I looked pretty good. I went and ran a brush through my hair even though I didn't think it needed it. The only thing missing was the tie. I grabbed one randomly off of the long rack and looked at the baby blue silk in my hand. Vlad had tied my tie yesterday after I had put up a fuss about wearing one. He didn't know that I didn't know how. This was going to be so embarrassing.

* * *

"It's called a Windsor knot. Now you try it." Vlad handed me the tie he had just undone with a smile in his eyes. We had just finished breakfast and he was helping me with my tie. When I asked him he had smirked at first and probably wanted to laugh, but that didn't last long, for which I was grateful. I popped the collar of my oxford and went through the instructions in my head as I took the strip of fabric and put it around my neck.

"Okay so you go under first…" I looked up at Vlad hesitantly and he nodded for me to continue. "Then you go through here, and across in front again, and then you tuck it through this loop thing?" I had just finished pulling everything tight when I heard a stifled laugh. I looked back up to Vlad who was very poorly concealing the fact that he was the culprit.

"What?" My cheeks were starting to get a little hot in embarrassment. Vlad only shook his head and pointed to the end of my tie.

"You don't see anything wrong with this?"

"Why what's…" I got a look at what Vlad was talking about. I had been so concentrated on figuring out the knot that the skinny part of the tie had ended up on top. I had done the knot with the wrong end of the tie. I went to undo the knot while Vlad spoke.

"Well at least you got the knot right." I paused to shoot Vlad a glare while I redid the tie. As I finished up we started walking towards the entryway and Vlad continued conversation.

"I do have to say Daniel that I am rather pleased with your choice of attire. I was certain you would have come down to breakfast with more jeans and converse on. What made you decide to wear this instead?" My heart skipped a beat when Vlad said he was happy with what I was wearing. This stupid, uncomfortable piece of crap was paying off after all! I stuttered a little bit as I responded to Vlad's question.

"I-I dunno. I mean, you were going to send me back up to my room anyway if I came down in what I wanted to wear. Plus this is what everyone else is wearing at school. If I wore anything else I would have stuck out and probably have gotten some grief for it." Vlad frowned looking stern for a minute, which made me worry a little bit when he spoke next.

"You haven't already made yourself more enemies than Mr. William have you? Has anyone been giving you trouble?" I immediately shook my head.

"No, everything at school is fine. It's only been one day. I mean what the heck could've happened in that amount of time anyway? I just want to keep myself out of the spotlight and dressing like everyone else is a good way to do that." Vlad still looked skeptically at me and I tried to look innocent. He didn't need to know about my school problems. I would look like a wuss if he came in and told everyone to lay off. I really didn't know how these people operated but I was pretty sure that parental interventions were looked down upon. I had to do this by myself. I was torn from my worrying when Vlad sighed, exasperated.

"You can't be openly rude to people like you can at Casper Daniel. People with money don't care about brawn, they can all easily buy that. You have to get them with something they can't buy, your brains. If you try to physically assert yourself you are going to appear to know nothing in regards to climbing the financial ladder. This in turn makes you into a person they might easily take advantage of or manipulate to their side." I tried to act like I was confused with what Vlad was saying, but that was a little difficult as I internally was trying to commit what he was saying to memory. Fortunately or unfortunately, I can't decide which yet; Vlad saw through my confused act and went right on with his little speech as we arrived in the entryway

"You already are very good at out-witting your enemies Daniel. You do it frequently with your ghostly adversaries. I must say you are quite famous throughout the Ghost Zone for your sarcasm. Apply that to this situation and I believe you will find yourself quite ahead of the game. Your peers have had not had quite so much practice with competing with a tongue of your caliber." I blushed a little when he pointed out that everyone in the Ghost Zone knew about my witty banter. Nearly every ghost I ran into had something to say about my "snappy remarks". It was cool to know that Vlad thought it was a good skill. I hadn't been born spouting sarcastic insults. Sure I had always liked irony and sarcasm, but it takes a while to get used to thinking on your feet like that. Vlad once more ignored my awkwardness and kept going on giving me advice.

"I believe you are also familiar with finding loopholes and excuses to be rude while techniquely being polite; lying while techniquely telling the truth. These sorts of things are vital to covering up your true intentions and tend to make others particularly angry. If you want to get under someone's skin be polite to them but in a very insulting way. It sets people off because they know your taking advantage of them and they can't do anything about it because it would make them look bad." I paused a minute because what Vlad said was right. I was very used to doing all of that. I had to if I wanted to keep my ghost half a secret. I was constantly coming up with cover stories for where I was and why. I was always lying to my parents and my teachers. I knew how to cover for myself that was for sure, but that didn't have to mean I was proud of it. Vlad must have noticed me slump slightly because he finally took a break from his monologue to grab me by the shoulder and give me a reassuring squeeze.

"Dear boy, you should not feel ashamed for knowing how to do these things. I believe you are going to quickly find that you are not the only one with this knowledge. The difference is that you will be able to act the perfect gentlemen while you do what you need to do. Now I want to advise you on one last thing before I send you on your way." I looked back up at Vlad curiously. The way he looked at me like he was going to be there for me made me feel better. It was really awesome to know that he was going to be there whenever I needed him. I opened my mouth to ask what he wanted to say.

"Alright well what is it?" He grinned at me before he stood up slightly.

"Your posture dear boy." I gaped for a minute before I responded.

"My what?" Vlad smiled a little more broadly.

"Your posture. Body language can say a lot about a person. People read other people by how they carry themselves and how they interact before they even talk to each other. Presenting yourself strongly is a subtle way to get ahead. So there are a few things you need to know. The first is that you need to stand as tall as you can with your shoulders back and your chin slightly up." Vlad demonstrated and waited for me to copy him. I sighed and rolled my eyes before I humored the guy. He studied me for a moment with a contemplative frown before he pushed my shoulders back a little and tilted my head a little downward.

"Good. You don't need to look at the ceiling, just a slight incline will do. Keep your hands clasped behind your back to help with your shoulders and your chest. It also makes you appear relaxed. Do not however lower your head or put your hands in your pockets. You don't want to appear too worried or anxious as these are signs of weakness. If you do something that feels awkward or submissive, chances are it makes you appear that way as well. I believe that will suffice for now." I sighed out of the tense position Vlad had put me in. He raised an eyebrow at me as I spoke. I appreciated his help and all but this was a little much.

"Vlad I don't want to look like I'm a snob. Don't you think this is a little overboard?" Vlad grinned slightly before he responded like he had been expecting my accusation and his mind was really elsewhere.

"You certainly don't have to take any of my advice Daniel. This is simply the information I believe is going to help you in the long run." Vlad continued to study me like there was something he was trying to figure out. I tried to ignore it, but the way he kept staring at me was making me uncomfortable.

"Vlad?" He didn't stop his studying as he responded.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Vlad paused for a moment and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You are sixteen, correct?" I looked at him skeptically. Where the heck was this going?

"Yeah…" Vlad studied me for a moment longer before he looked right at me.

"You only look like you're about the size of a twelve year old." Okay, now I was really confused and insulted. Never a great combination, especially with my life.

"Well thank you Vlad, for reminding me of my stunted growth. Do you want a golden star for your observational skills? What the heck does my height have to do with anything?" Vlad smiled proudly for a moment. It took me a minute to realize it was because I had been sarcastic and we had just been talking about that. I sighed and dragged my hand down my face, causing Vlad to chuckle and finally answer my question.

"Daniel you really are abnormally small for a young man your age; especially being the son of Jack Fenton." A weird emotion swelled up inside of me when Vlad said I was my dad's son and I didn't like it. It made my stomach twist into an undoable knot almost like I wanted to puke. I could feel the blood rush out of my face and I really didn't feel like standing up anymore, but I forced myself to anyway. I came out of my own thoughts when Vlad spoke again.

"The limo still has a few minutes before it will pull around, why don't we sit down?" I wanted to protest and say that I was fine but I found that I couldn't. My hands had started shaking and had turned white as I thought of my _Dad_. Can you call someone who's pointed a gun in your face your Dad? Does being related by blood force you to love someone? He could and would have killed me; was he still my dad after that? I felt my breathing get shallow. I knew then, that I needed a distraction. I looked pleadingly to Vlad. He immediately complied with my silent request.

"Daniel have you ever wondered why you haven't hit a growth spurt yet?" I clung to the subject of conversation and worked to actively distract myself. I shook my head as I responded.

"No, I mean they say that everyone is different. I always thought that I was just, you know, a late bloomer or something. I mean yeah it's really annoying but it's not that big a deal, I'll catch up eventually…. Right?" The contemplative look Vlad was wearing was making me uncertain. Vlad thought for a moment before he asked another question.

"How often do you need your hair cut?" I was taken a little off guard by the question so I had to think for a minute.

"I dunno, I think maybe once every eight months or something. Not very often." When I answered Vlad looked like he had just discovered something significant, though I have no clue what was so special about how often I got a trim. I would soon find out though.

"Daniel, have you ever considered taking growth hormones?" I just stared at him for a long minute. I had no clue where he was going with this so I was going to let him do all the talking. When he figured I was waiting for him, he spoke again.

"You don't find it odd at all that your hair grows at such a slow pace or that you are still so short? You see when I was in the hospital one of the side effects that I was diagnosed with was a decrease in growth hormones. My hair and fingernails virtually stopped growing all together. One of the things they did to remedy that was give me small doses of hormones to jump start my system again. I was wondering if you might consider a similar course of action. You obviously are not growing at a normal rate. At such a critical time in your life especially, I would think you would have at least grown a few inches. I don't believe it's out of the realm of possibility that you may require a jump start like I did." I blinked a few times at what Vlad was saying. He was so casual about the whole thing, like it was no big deal. I slowly started to come out of it.

"So you're saying that you think I'm not growing because my ghost half is somehow stopping me, and I'm not going to grow if I don't do something about it?" Vlad smiled cautiously like he wasn't sure if he should have told me the information.

"Essentially, yes. That or you will grow at a very slow pace in comparison to others. Whether or not you want to do anything about it is up to you. I don't believe it would be detrimental to your health if you chose to opt out of taking it, but I believe you may also like the effects it could have. It is a very low risk drug and has very few side effects other than what is intended of course." I had to sit and think about this for a minute. What Vlad said was really random, but it made a lot of sense. I mean if he had this problem too then he would know what he was talking about. Plus I really didn't like being short and wiry. I was constantly teased for it, and I was definitely not opposed to being a little taller and a little bigger. This was probably something that could help me. I hadn't been to a doctor in about two years because I was afraid that they would figure out that I was half ghost, so I didn't really know if I was necessarily healthy or not. It was very possible that Vlad was right. I mean my hair did grow really slowly and I hadn't had to by different sized clothes since I went into the portal. I felt like this was something I should take a little time to think about before I decided, but I felt like I was already sure what I wanted. I mean if it was going to make me better then why not? What was there left to decide? I trusted Vlad knew what he was doing. I paused before I looked up to Vlad.

"Okay, I'll do it." Vlad looked slightly taken back that I had decided so suddenly.

"Are you sure you want this Daniel? You don't want to take more time to think this over?" Vlad looked at me skeptically and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Not really. I'm pretty sure this is what I want. I mean it sounds like you know what you're talking about and that there really isn't anything bad that can go wrong. Sounds like a pretty straight forward decision to me." Vlad only nodded seeming to consider something.

"Alright then, I'll have a prescription written up for you today after school when I can give you a check up." I nodded my head.

"Alright that sounds… wait what did you say?" I looked at him confused when I registered what he'd said in that last part. He just looked at me like he had won something.

"I'll need to take your medical information Daniel. I'll need to have all of your information to be able to prescribe the correct amount." That's what I thought; there was a catch. I shouldn't have expected otherwise I guess. With Vlad, there is always a catch, whether it's supposed to be for your benefit or not. I had to have a check up if I wanted this stuff. I couldn't go back now either because I had already agreed. Crap, there wasn't really a way out of this. Well except,

"I'm 5'4'' and about 100 pounds. There, now you don't have to do anything." I could have sworn I saw shock flash over Vlad face for a minute before he was looking at me with a smirk.

"You aren't getting out of it Daniel. Though I suppose that never stopped you from trying before." Before I could reply there was a honk from outside. I growled to myself and Vlad only smirked as we stood up.

"I believe that is your ride Daniel. I'll see you after school now. Remember what I told you. Shoulders back, chin up, and no pockets." I only huffed and slouched just to spite the guy. He wasn't having any of it and kept right on smiling.

"Whatever Vlad, I'll see you I guess." He raised his eyebrows laughingly and waved from the doorway as I made my way down the front steps.


	22. Chapter 22: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

AN:/ It's short. I don't really feel like an authors note today.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 22: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Thursday, September 9, 2010, 7:31PM_

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**Danny's POV**

I hadn't gone to sleep in the limo today like I had yesterday. One, I didn't want to get my suit all wrinkly, and two I could use this time to do some research. I had my laptop out and well…on my lap, and I was going through that school networking site; reading as much as I possibly could.

What was I researching exactly? What people had said about me so far. Believe me when I say that they had said a lot. I was honestly questioning whether these people did anything besides spread gossip on this thing. There was enough about me on here that I decided to a running list of things that had stuck out or come up repeatedly.

-People call me "Masters" because it sounds like they are referring to me as "master" and are trying to suck up

-Remembering names is important. When I don't, it makes me look stupid.

-I need to figure out the difference between a salad fork and a regular fork; and a teaspoon vs. a table spoon.

-I swing my brief case a little when I walk, that has to stop.

-I need to stay away from discussions I have no background knowledge of.

That was the stuff I thought was important enough to write down. There was some stuff, like that I smiled too much, that I was just going to ignore. That was just stupid. If you ask me, it was the other way around. These people didn't smile enough. I didn't really care that I got crap for helping that girl with her books either. That was another one of those things that wasn't going to change. These people may all be jerks, but that didn't mean I had to be one too. The trick with this was going to be being a jerk to the right people.

The limo made another turn and I could see the school now through the trees. I put my laptop back in my suitcase and closed it beside me. I ran a hand through my hair one more time to make sure none of it was sticking up at any weird angles. I had to do this right. Shoulders back, chin up, and no pockets.

Unlike yesterday we were not the only ones in the parking lot. Limos were everywhere. I finally understood why the parking spaces were so long. There wasn't a single regular car in the student lot. And by that I mean they were all limos or sports cars that looked like they cost over 200,000 dollars. We pulled into the drop off lane and waited for a minute. I watched as people got out of their limos, paying close attention to how they went about it. If I wanted to make the right entrance, I was going to have to do things exactly like they did. As we pulled forward I braced myself. Here goes nothing.

The limo rolled silently to a stop and I waited for the driver to come around and open the door.

"We have arrived Mr. Masters." I tried for the life of me to remember the guys name so I could thank him but I was coming up short. Why didn't these guys wear name-tags? I was about to get out of the car and improvise when I remembered I had to hand the driver my suitcase first. I reached back behind me and grabbed it quickly; handing it to the driver who held his hand out to receive it. He gave me a knowing smile as he took the briefcase, which confused me a little bit. As least awkwardly as I could I climbed out of the limo. Just as I was passing the driver he whispered something in my ear.

"It's Clinton, Mr. Masters." I think it was only because I was so focused on looking 'proper' that I didn't whip around and punch the guy in the face from surprise. After my blood pressure lowered it still took me a moment to figure out what he had said; and when I did I was secretly grateful. I stood next to Clinton as he handed me back my brief case.

"Thank you Clinton." He gave me a wink and I tried to stop smiling so obviously. I decided that I liked this guy. He spoke again before I got the chance to walk away.

"Same time as yesterday Mr. Masters?" I gave the guy a nod as I answered.

"Yup, that's all I'll need. Thanks again." He smiled his knowing smile at me again as he responded on his way back to the driver's seat.

"Have a good day Mr. Masters."After he had started to drive away I took a breath and started walking towards the entrance. People had stopped to look when they had realized it was my limo that had pulled up. After I walked past several groups of whispering people I didn't have a problem keeping the smile off of my face anymore. I subtly made sure I was doing what Vlad said. I had to remember not to look up too much and to keep my shoulders really far back. I was going to put my hands behind my back like Vlad said too, but that was awkward with my briefcase, and Vlad said no awkward stuff either.

I walked through the doors and was inside the school once more. Just like yesterday I still had a good amount of time before class actually started. I wondered for a minute if I should go and wait for class to start in my first classroom, but I decided not to. If I stayed in proximity to someone who would be able to 'protect' me from threats, namely a teacher, then I would look like a coward. The best thing to do would be to stay away from teachers as much as possible; that way no one could claim I was hiding behind authority. I had to stick it out on my own at every opportunity.

The only problem now was: where was I supposed to go if I wasn't going to the class room? I briefly remembered a lounge like area that my duplicate had looked at yesterday, but I couldn't really remember where it was. My safest bet was probably to just follow the flow of people until I ended up somewhere. As I thought through all of this I never stopped moving or made it look like I was pausing to think. I had to look like I knew what I was doing.

By following everyone else I was soon lead to the lounge area as I had predicted. It was cool really. It was sunken in, in the middle and there was a big fountain that glittered in the sunlight that the massive windows on the right side of the room let in. Comfy chairs and couches were scattered reasonably far apart from each other for seating. There were even a couple of tables for people to work at. They were all full except for one which everyone had stayed clear of by the fountain. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with the table though. So I couldn't make myself look too bad if I sat there. I figured I might as well work on some of the homework I had. There was still a lot of it.

As I got closer to the table though, various eyes seemed to follow me. It wasn't the regular staring either. The way they were looking at me was different; it was a look of anticipation. I slowed my pace slightly as I got closer to the table. Maybe I really shouldn't sit here. There was probably a reason that it was empty while every other one was packed full. I couldn't turn around now though. That would mean that it looked like I doubted myself. I quickly made up my mind. I would take my chances; I could handle whatever all the fuss was about.

After I sat down, I opened up my laptop and got to work while I kept an eye on everyone in my peripheral vision. As the minutes ticked by everyone continued to shoot glances my way or whisper to their neighbor. More and more people continued to file into the room, obviously trying to do so inconspicuously and failing at it big time. I had a hunch that most of them were there to get a look at me and not to hang out. The room had run out of places to sit a long time ago and people that arrived now were forced to stand in awkward lines along the walls to appear casual. However nobody invited themselves over to the table I was at. I hadn't decided whether this was a good or a bad thing yet.

Suddenly the room seemed to get quieter. I casually looked up to see what it was that had caused the sudden silence. Following everyone's obvious gaze, it didn't take long to find what had caused everyone to stop what they were doing. Bill Ford had just walked through the door, and he was looking at me. There was a group of people that surrounded him like the group that surrounded me yesterday. The difference was that his sucker fish looked more like they were ready to protect him than mine had.

I held Bill's gaze as he moved towards me. I wouldn't be the first to look away. Ghost fighting had taught me a long time ago that looking away was a sign of submission. Everyone cleared out of Bill's way as he walked through the crowed room towards where I was sitting. The group that surrounded him trialed faithfully behind like little ducklings. As Bill approached I noticed that he shifted to more of a posture like Vlad had me in this morning. The fact made me almost want to laugh. If he thought that I would have backed down because of how he was standing, even before I knew what it meant, then he was sadly mistaken.

Bill finally made it to the table and I didn't make any moves as he set his brief case with a profound 'thud' on the table. We stared at each other for a moment longer before he spoke.

"Excuse me kid, but if you didn't realize you're at my table." I only raised an eyebrow. This was too easy. Dash would have had me out of my seat and thrown across the room by now. This was so much easier than taking a beating it was insane. I quickly decided to let the guy off with a nice classic.

"I'm sorry I didn't see your name on it anywhere. Maybe next time you should label your things, so that people know that it's your property." I made sure to glance at the people to the sides of him. They quickly glared which meant they had received the implied message. Bill sneered.

"I'll get right on that. Now I believe it's high time you found another seat." I relaxed a little into my chair as I decided to see just how much I could push this guy's buttons before he snapped. If that one little thing already had him on edge then I was sure it wouldn't be too long. I looked to the chair next to me and pointed to it as I spoke next.

"There's one." He looked confusedly at me while still trying to look tough. The overall effect was really not intimidating at all. He opened his mouth again.

"What?" I was having trouble not smirking. I hadn't felt this smart in a long time.

"You said to find a seat, so I found one. There's one right there. Or did you want one with a person in it? In that case there's one right here too." I pointed to an arm chair that wasn't too far away. Bill only seethed as he spoke next.

"Maybe what I said was too complicated for you to understand. Let me simplify things for you. You can't sit here and if you know what's good for you, you will stand up and go sit somewhere else." I enthusiastically pretended that I finally understood what he said. I smiled and 'oh'ed, slapping my hand on the table while I leaned back in my chair a little.

"Is that what you meant? I'm sorry I misunderstood you, but I can't go sit somewhere else. If you take a quick look around then you'll see that all of the other seats are taken. I have a lot of homework to do, being new and all and I need this table so that I can get it done. Seeing as I got here first and I didn't know that you had exclusive rights to this table, it would only be polite to let me stay. There is still room for you to sit after all." I gestured towards the three empty seats. "You are more than welcome to take a seat. It is_ your table_ after all." I watched in satisfaction as Bill abandon the 'nice guy' act he was trying to keep up and forcefully slapped both his hands down on the table. He quickly leaned forward as much as he could to get in my face. Obviously trying to intimidate me. It might have worked if I hadn't stared things down that were more than ten times his size. I could tell that when I didn't flinch he was getting pissed. I was close to the jack pot here. He just needed a little nudge.

"Listen kid. I don't know who you think you are but-"

"Daniel Masters." Bills face was starting to flush with color as he growled back at me.

"Excuse me?" I smiled a small innocent smile.

"I'm just trying to answer your question. You said you didn't know who I thought I was, so I'm telling you. I think I am Daniel Masters. We went over that yesterday in the hallway if you don't remember. It's okay if you don't; I'm not very good with names either." I only had a heartbeat to react before Bill had maneuvered himself around the table to attack. I used the small amount of time to slide out of my chair and close my laptop so that it wouldn't get broken. I really didn't want to break that thing.

I easily dodged his slow punch as I tried to avoid colliding with people who were now franticly getting out of their seats to give us room. Bill seemed completely oblivious to what was around him as he threw, what he intended to be, a 'fast on' at me. I ducked to the left again. It was obvious he had never been in a real fight in his life. He would pause a second or two between each blow, allowing me plenty of time to regain my ground. I almost felt bad for the guy… almost.

It had only taken a few seconds for practically everyone to have gotten their cell phones out to record the 'fight'. I didn't really care though; the only person who was in any danger of humiliation here was Bill. I just smiled easily with my hands casually behind my back as I continued to be lead around the room while he threw one punch after another. Duck left, step right, step back, step back again. After a solid minute he finally managed to get me into a corner. When he saw he had me 'trapped' He stopped throwing his fists around like an idiot to glare at me maliciously. His face was now covered in a light sheen and he was breathing heavily.

"Let's see you try and run like a coward now." I only raised my eyebrow again. He breathed heavily for a moment longer before he lunged at me with a short cry. I bent low with my knees and slid under his flailing arms. I stood up fully behind him and before he could run into the wall with the force he had thrown himself at me with; I grabbed his wrists and forced them behind his back. He struggled against my hold but he obviously didn't get anywhere. I waited until he knew he wasn't getting free before I spoke.

"You know, you really shouldn't get into fist fights at school. You could end up hurting yourself." Knowing the crowd behind me would move I slowly lead a captive Bill away from the wall a good ten feet. I held him steady for a moment longer before I let his wrists go. He sprung away from me instantly; turning himself to face me as he went. There was a long moment where I smirked and he just glared at me while he regained his breath. Everything was silent except for his heavy breathing. Several people tried to get a better angle with their phones in the small break. Finally Bill spoke; only it was slowly like he was thinking about what he was saying.

"Is pugna est non super. If you know what that means."

"_This fight is not over. If you know what that means."_

I could not contain the smile that broke over my face. This was too perfect. He had spoken in Latin. He must take a Latin class or something, either way it didn't matter. Of course I understood perfectly what he said. If he was going to speak in Latin, then I thought it was only polite that I change my language to match.

"Etiam ego teneo quis is opes quod ego have loquor ut vos es vox. ego ero promptus pergo ullus vicis vos es. Nos can loco nostrum varietas aside praecessi ut nostrum primoris ordo sententia can non nos? Is est iam duodeviginti viginti quinque quod Nolo ut exsisto tardus. Ego have multus of opus verto in ut meus Dad succurro mihi per permaneo nox noctis. Ego mos animadverto vos in pauci minutes tunc."

"_Yes I know what it means and I have to say that you're right. I will be ready to continue any time you are. We can put our differences aside to go to our first class though, can't we? It's already eight twenty five and I don't want to be late. I have a lot of work to turn in that my Dad helped me with last night. I'll see you in a few minutes then."_

I smiled broadly when everyone only stared at me with open mouths. This was too awesome. I walked forward, towards my stuff, and the crowd parted to let me through. I think it was safe to say that Daniel Masters has officially arrived.


	23. Chapter 23: Not Quite Chat Roullette

AN:/ No it's not long, no nothing too exciting happens, yes I did try to make it less awkward and a little more lengthy without any success. You see there is this thing called school that started up again and it takes up most of the time i would be writing. Plus Marching Band practices are really getting into full swing too. Plus everyone is getting on my back about applying for college, when really i can't tell the difference from one college to the next. I still have about 18 hours of community service to obtain before i can graduate. And i have this super huge art project that i'm trying to figure out. But enough with my pity party, along with all of that i really was dreading writing this chapter because to me, it felt like a chore. I am way more excited to get going on the next chapter so hopefully that will get to you sooner. by the way, i don't know how long next chapter will be, but it will be in either Tucker's or Sam's POV, and then the one after that will probably be in either Jack or Maddie's POV. So hold your freaking horses about getting around to their POV it's coming, please just be patient. So now that i've yelled at you all when really you have done absolutely nothing wrong. enjoy the small update. I'm working on the next one, i really am.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arm's**

Chapter 23: Not Quite Chat Roulette

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, September 19, 2010, 5:54PM_

_Edited: Monday, September 20, 2010, 5:18AM (because one sentence makes a big difference as far as what Jazz thinks about their parents.)  
_

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Small Note: The web-cam on Danny's laptop is detachable.

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**Jazz's POV**

It was very gray outside. You know that type of day that the atmosphere itself just seems depressed, it was that sort of day today. The sidewalks outside were wet from a light rain that had come down last night. The water was still there because the sun had never come out to dry it all up.

The window in my dorm was slightly fogged up around the edges which made it hard to get a good look outside anyway. I tried to pull myself back to the homework on my open laptop, but I knew I was only fooling myself. I wouldn't be able to get anything done; not when I was so focused on Danny.

He hadn't called me since I saw him last and that worried me. I thought he would have at least called once to let me know how he was doing or to talk or something. There could be a reason he hadn't checked back with me. What if he hadn't called because Vlad wasn't letting him? What if he needed me and I wasn't there to help him?

I blinked again and sighed; turning to look at a different corner of my dorm. I couldn't think like that. When I had seen Danny, he looked like he was doing okay. I mean, yeah he had been upset and stuff, but he seemed to have been well taken care of. Danny didn't look like he was being forced to do anything or like he was fighting any sort of control.

He hadn't called because… well I don't know why, but it wasn't because he was in trouble. He probably would have found a way to get a hold of me if he really needed it. The fact that I hadn't heard from him though was making me nervous. I would have called him, but I didn't have Vlad's number and I really didn't want to call the parents to ask for it.

I slumped in my spiny chair a little and turned back to my laptop. I wasn't fooling anyone, I was getting nowhere with this homework. I might as well turn off my computer. I could try again later when my mind wasn't so preoccupied. I moved to hit the start button when I saw that a speech bubble had popped up above the toolbar on the right hand side of the screen.

_**Dan Masters**__ would like to start a video chat. Would you like to __**accept**__?_

Could it be? It was sketchy. Why would Danny use a new account when he already had one, and why was he using Vlad's last name? I hesitated clicking the accept button. If it wasn't Danny, it would be some creeper person I didn't know; and I knew about internet safety and all that crap.

I hesitantly clicked the link. Screw safety; that could be my brother. It most likely was my brother anyway, and I was not missing him because I thought I didn't know him. It would be just like picking up the phone when you didn't know the caller ID. It couldn't turn out too bad, right?

His side loaded way faster than mine. What showed up made me do a double take. At first I thought the picture _was_ of someone else; but it was Danny he was just, in a suit…

Finally my end loaded and my image appeared up on the screen.

"_Hey Jazz"_ Danny spoke with a small wave. I could see the guilt he was trying to unsuccessfully hide in his eyes. What was wrong? His sheepish demeanor was making me more anxious than I already was. So I did what any nervous sister would do; I immediately started firing questions at him.

"Danny! Why are you in a suit? Why are you using this account instead of your old one? Where are you? Do you need my help? Why haven't you called me? Is Vlad trying to do something to you?" Danny's eyes got wide with my last question and he hurriedly went to correct me.

"_No no no Jazz, Vlad has been surprisingly cool. He hasn't been doing anything." _ I looked at him skeptically. He sighed while I responded.

"Danny is Vlad right there making you say that? Vlad you can come out now if you're there. I'm not going to tolerate you forcing my brother to say or do things like this!" I searched the corners of the screen for any moving shadows that would indicate if he was there. Why else would Danny have this new account or be dressed like that. The Danny I knew would never get into a suit willingly. Danny just looked pleadingly at me as he spoke next.

"_Jazz, Vlad isn't here. He's at work and I'm at school. It's just me. You have to believe me when I say that Vlad isn't up to anything." _I just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay how do you explain the suit, or not calling me sooner, or the new account? I almost didn't accept you know." Danny sighed and slumped a little as he went into explaining.

"_I'm in a suit because that is what the dress code makes you wear at the school I'm going to. I'm using this account instead of my old one because I didn't want to chance talking to Sam and Tuck. I haven't called you because I've been a little preoccupied. I do need your help Jazz, but not with what you think. Vlad is not doing anything to try to make me his evil apprentice, although he has had several opportunities to try. Vlad is just…I don't know how to tell this to you Jazz. He's only done things that would help me. He sending me to school, he feeds me every day, he gives me a really comfortable bed to sleep on, and he makes sure that I'm happy. I don't know what changed about him Jazz, but I'm not going to question it. Not right now. I need him right now. He's really taken this whole thing seriously and he's making sure to do things right. I can't tell you anything else to make you believe otherwise." _As Danny finished his small monologue there was a moment's silence. His face had been very stern throughout the whole ordeal. I could tell that even he was surprised he said a few of those things; though it looked like he was telling me the truth. He was a terrible liar. Half of me wanted to continue to doubt that Vlad was treating Danny right, but the pleading in Danny's eyes made me sigh and drop it. I would take his word for it, for now. If what Danny said was true, then I guess he was oaky. I was the next to speak.

"You said that you needed my help? Well what did you need help with?" Danny smiled guiltily at me and went to rub the back of his neck.

"_Yeah, about that. I told you about how Vlad is sending me to school right?" _I blinked a moment and recalled that he had said that he was wearing a suit because that was the dress code. I thought for a minute that that was weird because what sort of school would make that their dress code? I mentally rolled my eyes as the answer occurred to me. The sort of school Vlad would send Danny to. I responded cautiously.

"Yeeeah." Danny smiled more in that guilty way. I prepared myself for some insane request as he went on.

"_Right so of course Vlad sent me to this super ritzy school, thus the suit and stuff. But it's also kind of hard because the classes are different too. Like I'm taking Business Math and Ethics, and Chemistry, and Comp Lit, and Pre Calc. Vlad is even making me take a Chinese class… Hey did you know I can speak dead languages! Ghosts are fluent in them apparently. You know so like when a language dies it becomes a ghost language. It's kind of weird but it makes sense when you think about it. It explains why I can learn languages so much faster too, because I'm already fluent in the one it was based off of. " _This was all very interesting information, but his little diversion tactic wasn't going to work on me. I was the one who taught him how to do it. If he needed my help I wanted to know with what, no matter how embarrassed he was about asking me. I leaned in a little with my arms crossed when Danny finished.

"And?" He sighed in defeat.

"_Jazz I need help with my math homework. I don't have any idea what this means." _The camera jiggled around for a moment, flashing over images of a black keyboard, a hardwood table, and a plate of food before it settled somewhat, like someone was holding it, on at sheet of lined paper with numbers on it. I looked at it for a minute and recognized some of the math that he was trying to do. The camera swiveled around again to face Danny; though it was still shaking as if he were holding it in his hand.

"_So can you help me?"_ I raised my eyebrows at him before I responded.

"Sure I just want to get a couple of things straight first." Danny only looked at me apprehensively so I continued; ticking things off on my fingers as I went. "You have been at Vlad's for nine days now. He hasn't done anything to you or tried to make you a part of his evil plans or anything. He has somehow, enrolled you in a school that makes it's student's wear suits every day, you have absolutely no objections to any of this, and you only remembered to call me because you needed help with your math homework." Danny got one of those smirks on his face like he was about to make a witty remark.

"_Well, I could do without the suits, and the rich kids. Fencing class is a bit of a hassle too, but I think I'll live." _I just sat there and stared at him, waiting. He sighed exasperatedly. The camera moved like he wanted to gesture with his hands before he remembered he was holding it. _"Okay I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier! Gezze, you were even the one who said that I would be okay staying with Vlad. I honestly didn't think about it alright. I had a lot of other things to think about. Like how my life sucks and nothing I thought was true actually is." _ I frowned at the depression that flickered behind Danny's eyes when he said that last sentence.

"Danny you can't say things like that. Things are looking down for you right now but look at what you have. You're staying with a trillionaire, getting a world class education by the sounds of it, and you still have friends and a family who care about you." Danny's just stared at me for a minute before he became very solemn.

"_Jazz I don't know what planet you've been living on, but I do not have friends or a family who care." _I could see the tsunami of emotions that were swirling behind his eyes; threatening to spill over. My own became soft as I tried to comfort him. This is why I wished he would have called me earlier.

"Danny you do too. I'm you're family aren't I? I still care about you. And Sam and Tuck are devastated. They explained everything to me. They didn't mean what you saw. It was all a big misunderstanding." Danny's eyes became hard and angry as I went on.

"_Oh so I misunderstood the fact that Sam and Tucker were in a janitor's closet, plastered over each other, sucking face. I'm sorry I misinterpreted the circumstances." _I tried to get him to listen.

"Danny-"

"_No jazz you listen to me for a second. I know what I saw and there is no way that they 'didn't mean it'. They meant it, they meant it a lot. I don't know how they told things to you, but it is going to take a lot to convince me that what I saw was a 'mistake'." _I sighed and pleaded with my eyes for Danny to understand, but I knew I was going nowhere. His eyes were as cold as steel.

"Danny we're teenagers. Things happen. If you saw how worried Sam and Tucker had been when I told them you were at Vlad's. You would-"

"_You told them!"_ I winced just a fraction when his eyes briefly flashed green.

"Yes I told them Danny! After they explained things to me I thought that they had a right to know. They are really worried about you, and they're still your friends." Danny scoffed loudly as he mumbled under his breath and tried to get himself under control. The camera steadied again like it had been set back down.

"_Jazz, I know you think you're helping. But I would really appreciate it if you would just let me handle this one, alright?" _ I shook my head at Danny. He was only hurting himself by avoiding them.

"Danny you're going to need to talk to them sooner or later, you can't keep running from this." Danny only scowled.

"_Jazz, just drop it. This is my life alright, and I can do what I want with it. Please don't tell them where I am or what I'm doing. I don't want them to know."_ I let out an exasperated sigh.

"But Danny,"

"_Jazz if you keep telling them what we talk about, I'm not going to call you anymore." _ My mouth dropped open a moment before I clamped it shut. Danny just continued to glare at me through the screen; waiting for my answer. He was completely serious. Fine, I guess I would have to keep all of this to myself. I knew what was best for Danny but if he wanted to make things harder for himself then I guess that was his choice. Sam and Tucker were Danny's friends; it was his choice how he wanted to treat them. I tried; I had done my job.

"Fine Danny, alright? I won't tell them anything. You're only hurting yourself by not talking to them you know." Danny let go of his 'mean' act when I agreed and instantly calmed.

"_Thanks Jazz. I know you're just trying to take care of me, but I need to do this by myself. I really don't want to argue anymore okay?"_ I couldn't help but let my anti-sentiment melt away with something like that. A warmer smile came to my face as I responded

"Yeah only because you need help with math." Danny playfully smirked back at me.

"_That may be but really, I only have twenty more minutes before lunch is over."_ I adopted a confused expression.

"Danny why would Vlad make you eat within a certain time parameter?" Danny only slapped his hand to his face.

"_Jazz, today is Tuesday. For the last time Vlad isn't doing anything."_ I just scrunched up my face. So what if it was Tuesday. Why would that make a difference if Vlad wanted him to finish eati-

"Oh. So you're at school right now? Like in a cafeteria, where are all of the people and… " Danny just shook his head.

"_Jazz we already went over the fact that I'm not at a regular school. Vlad got me a private dining room so I could eat lunch without everyone staring at me. Once people figured out I was a Masters they just will not stop staring. It's about as annoying as people calling me Inviso-bill. Now are you going to help me with this crap or not?" _I laughed a little on the inside at Danny's frustration. A playful smirk came to my face as I responded. It wasn't very often that I got to mess with Danny like this; it was usually the other way around.

"What, it's not like you gave me all of the details or anything. What do you expect me to be like, psychic or something?" Danny just slumped and looked off to the side like he had given up as he whined.

"_Jazz." _I smiled in victory.

"Alright alright, quit whining. Now what was it that you needed help with?"


	24. Chapter 24: Sitting Waiting Wishing

AN:/ Told you I was excited!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 24: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 5:20PM_

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**Sam's POV**

Owe.

That was all that dominated my mind-scape as me and Tucker lay in my bed. We were taking a small break from catching ghosts. The lights were off so that our eyes didn't have to look at anything and it was completely silent. It didn't occur to me that us lying in the same bed was awkward or weird. No, we were both too tired for that. All that I could focus on was the throbbing in my limbs.

It hadn't been bad at first, going after all the ghosts. All that I had to show for the constant ghost hunting I was doing were the dark circles under my eyes. And really those just made me look more Goth so I was cool with it. The first three days or so had been fine. They were stressful but I could deal with it.

Then the pain started. I was on my feet constantly, fighting ghosts, and just standing up would feel like I was standing on a bed of pins and needles. All over my body, my mussels tightened if they were left immobile for too long. I had to constantly stretch them out to prevent cramps. I could escape the pain in my body if I rested though. If I sat down the pain in my feet went away. If I let go of the gun I clung to, my hands would throb before they returned to their normal color. It was by no means pleasant to be moving so much and so frequently, but a lot of the time I could ignore the pain. Then when I went to sleep for an hour or two, it would go away completely.

Next the pain got to a point where it didn't go away if I simply sat down. There was no escaping it. My feet especially, were in a constant ache that would bite a little bit with every heartbeat. I had to let out the laces on my combat boots because my feet were so swollen. My arms and chest were bruised all colors of the rainbow. I had every major joint wrapped in some sort of bandage or in some sort of brace. I kept on fighting ghosts though. I had to, the town needed me. Without Danny it was a fine line between order and chaos as far as ghosts went. We were due to see a few reinforcements of GIW agents on Friday, but I doubted they would help any. They would most likely just get in the way.

Anyway after continuing on through all of this the pain finally started to ebb. Though I wasn't sure if what I was experiencing now was any better or worse than before. The pain wasn't a bite anymore but more of an ache. I was just outright sore. It was like my body had given up trying to get me to slow down and was now settling on this throbbing sort of twinge that just sucked away at my energy. I had to keep right on hunting ghosts though. It was like I said, even without me, one person; it was likely that the ghosts would get the upper hand.

Ghosts were attacking all hours of the day. It didn't matter to them whether it was 2:00 in the morning or in the afternoon. Someplace, somewhere, there was bound to be a ghost scarring people and causing some sort of destruction. I honestly don't understand what people found so scary about ghosts. They all looked the same; glowing unearthly colors with some sort of either very provocative, or very ugly feature. It got really old really fast to have to find an excuse to fight essentially the same ghost over and over again.

At first it was a real struggle to keep the fact that me and Tucker were hunting ghosts together a secret. We would try and alternate who 'went to the bathroom' and who was going to stay behind and take notes. It was hard because we never knew how tough of a ghost was going to be there and whether it was going to take the two of us to bring it down. That didn't last for long though. It seemed that within three days Lancer had us figured out and we were standing in front of Principal Ishiyama; trying to explain ourselves without giving away anything.

However,_ why_ we had been hunting ghosts didn't seem to matter to them very much. All that they cared about was that we stopped immediately and left the ghost hunting up to the professionals.

"Ghost hunting is too dangerous for young people like you. You shouldn't have taken this responsibility into your own hands if you weren't prepared to handle it."

I was torn between laughing and screaming at the time at the injustice but, the irony didn't stop there.

My parents had not taken kindly to the fact that I had been hunting ghosts when they found out. If they had their way, then there was no possibility I was ever going outside again. It was looking like that would be the case when the Mayor came to our house and said that it turned out mine and Tucker's 'services' were one of the only things holding back full on chaos. Within six hours Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were struggling to keep up with the flow of ghosts that seemed to come from absolutely nowhere. Without us there helping they were abruptly having a hard time keeping it all under control. Suddenly it didn't matter that "we were too young" and "we couldn't handle it", they needed us to keep the town from being overrun by ghosts.

After a long speech about a citizens' obligation to protect his or her community, my parents allowed me to go out and hunt ghosts again. I had been happy at first. It was obvious that the town needed me and Tucker. I figured it wouldn't be long before Danny was back and helping us. Though as time went on, and Danny didn't come back, it got harder and harder to keep up. Against all odds I was wishing my parents had fought a little harder to keep me home.

Adjustments and exceptions had been made for me and Tucker at school to accommodate our new "jobs". We were allowed to openly carry ecto-weapons for defense, allowed and extra three days to get our homework done if we needed it, were exempt from gym, and were free to use the nurse's office at any time. It seemed though that even without having to hide the fact that we were fighting ghosts anymore, we still had a hard time. You never knew when a ghost was going to attack. One minute you could be in the library enjoying the peace and quiet, and the next you would be flipping over furniture trying to land a shot on some sort of green thing while screaming for a Fenton thermos. You had to be on your toes constantly' prepared to go from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye.

I couldn't help wondering how Danny did it all. He rarely ever showed any signs of fatigue. I think the only thing I really noticed was that he yawned a lot. How did he have the time to do any of this? Sure he was gone most of the time but it seemed that if he dealt with this many ghosts on a regular basis, then he shouldn't have even been able to show up at all. It was unfathomable that he could have taken care of all of this every day, for two years, without ever asking for anything in return. He took all kinds of bullshit from the town. There were people who still thought he was a menace. Heck his own parents thought he was evil and he still didn't complain. Didn't he ever get sick of it all? Didn't he ever want any help?

As I laid here I knew now more than ever, that I, that this town needed Danny. I don't know how much longer I could keep going on like this. It was all starting to become one enormous blur. I was never quite sure when one day ended and another began. We didn't know just exactly what Danny did until he wasn't there to do it anymore. Danny had been the _only_ thing keeping this town safe. Without him people were struggling to go about their daily lives. He was the only person who could handle this job. There wasn't a replacement for him. The rest of us were just human, but he was more than that. He was the only person that had been able to handle all of this. He had even had the ability to do that, and keep it all a secret from the rest of the world. One stupid impulse had ruined everything and now our lives had been thrown into chaos, all because of one person's absence.

I fought the tears that wanted to spring to my eyes. I used my sore muscles to roll over and look at the stack of newspapers me and Tucker had been collecting. Everyone was searching the skies every day for the infamous Danny Phantom. Hoping he would soon be there to save the town again. The news reports every night would remind everyone that Danny Phantom wasn't there to protect us anymore. Every night families would lean in close to their televisions when the ghost bulletin came up and listen for news of the ghost boy's return.

There were theories about why he had left. Some thought it was because he was sick of everyone taking him for granted. Others thought he was the one behind the massive increase in ghost attacks, and still others thought he wasn't around anymore because he had finally been able to 'move on'.

Only me, Tucker, and Jazz knew the real reason he was gone. Danny's parents did too, somewhere in their subconscious. They were still operating somewhere under the notion that Danny was sick or that he was infected with some ghost disease and not thinking straight. Guilt ripped at my heart whenever I thought about what I had done. What I had caused for myself. I ultimately knew that I was the one at fault. I was frustrated and angry at Danny for not giving us a chance to explain, but I knew I was really the only person I had to be mad at. I didn't understand why Danny wouldn't give me a chance to tell him what happened. I wished so hard he would come home and let me explain. I wanted so bad to go to Vlad's and ask him why he had left us here to fend for ourselves.

We couldn't go to Vlad's though, Tucker had explained over and over again why that wasn't the smart thing to do. Somehow I knew it was better to let Danny come to us anyway, but that didn't stop me from wanting to take action. It was clear Danny was mad at us and with both halfas against us we didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting off that front porch unharmed. I knew Danny would never hurt us but we couldn't say the same for Vlad. What if he was the one to open the door? There was too much risk involved in going to Vlad's. It was a long shot even when we weren't exhausted out of our minds. When we were in this condition, getting away from Vlad's if things got ugly was near impossible.

It wasn't exactly safe for Danny to come home either. His parents were still out to get rid of his ghost half, only now in a whole new sense. They had been working in-between fighting ghosts and sleeping on some way to 'help' Danny get rid of his ghostly 'problem'. They were going near insane now that Danny was gone and they thought he was in trouble. I really think the only reason they were still classified as mentally stable was because the town needed them to help fight ghosts. Anyone who walked up to their front door and shared more than two sentences could tell that they needed some severe therapy. Just by looking at them you could tell something wasn't right. They were worried out of their minds that Danny was somewhere terrible, that he needed their help.

I took a big breath in and out. Danny wasn't the one who needed help. He wasn't in trouble or in any life or death situation. He was probably in a comfortable bed somewhere getting everything he wanted while he laughed and thought that we deserved what we got. The town, the people he left behind, are the only people who needed help now. I felt a tear leak down my cheek. I think I had cried more in this past week and a half than I had in my entire life. I shook silently as sobs started to take me again and tried not to disturb Tucker in case he was sleeping. Despite my efforts I felt a shift next to me and a hand on my shoulder.

"Sam, are you okay? What's wrong?" I shuttered in a few breaths as Tucker pulled on my shoulder slightly indicating he wanted me to roll over to face him. I slowly obliged though I still avoided eye contact. Tucker, like he always did grabbed a few Kleenexes' from my bed stand and handed them to me. He then put his hand back on my upper arm to comfort me. I cleared my eyes and Tucker waited patiently for me to speak.

"T-Tucker… d-do you think we'll ever s-see Danny again?" Tucker gave me a small squeeze and smiled his warm honey like smile at me.

"Sam, I think we will. We're his friends for life whether he wants us or not. We're like a parasite that's never going to leave him alone or a rock in his shoe that he just can't seem to shake out. We'll see him again Sam, I'm sure of it. I'm just not so sure when." I paused in my sniffling to give him a playful glare.

"You have such a way with words." He only smirked evilly before he responded.

"I know! It must be all that Goth haiku, it's rubbing off on me." I gave him a playful shove which earned me a 'hey!' before we were suddenly out of energy again and back to silence.

Avery small grin came over my achy face. Tucker was right. We would see Danny again. I just had to be patient. Everything would be okay and we would all be friends again someday when Danny decided to come back. Until that day, me and Tucker could keep each other going. As long as Tucker was at my side, I think we would be ready when Danny decided to come back.


	25. Chapter 25: Today is TUEsday

AN:/ I know i just said that I was busy and stuff, but i just have to write when i get in the mood, i've been having a lot of really good ideas, mostly because of your guys' suggestions and requests and i just have to get them down before i forget. It's not like you guys are complaining though right? so here we go, three chapters in three days. I know they were short, but they were fast and i didn't think they needed to be longer to get the point across. Another thing that contributes to me writting so fast is me knowing what i want to write. It may take me a week or two to get this next chapter up because i still have to hew out a lot of the details. I had these pretty much down to a T in my head for a while, so just be patient. Hopefully you don't think that in my speed i've sacrificed any quality either. Oh and i know that it's not really Tuesday today literally, but it is in the story. (haha. HA!) no really if you've been paying attention it really is a Tuesday in the story. Oh and if you send me questions about the outcome of this story after reading this chapter, I will not be answering them. I don't want to give away the ending! That's for you guys to figure out along the way!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arm's**

Chapter 25: Today is **TUE**sday

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 9:41PM_

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**Maddie's POV**

I heard a loud clang from downstairs in the lab, which meant that Jack was leaving dents in the portal doors again. Not that I could blame him. There were times that I wanted to go beat the living shit out of that stupid device for all of the hurt it must have caused my baby boy.

Me and Jack had figured it all out with a few hints from Danny's friends. Danny had gone into the portal and turned it on. He had been shocked with so much ectoplasmic electricity that it altered his DNA. He had apparently been suffering for a little over two years now. What sort of a mother was I? I didn't even notice when my baby boy was ill with a ghastly ghostly disease.

After running a few tests and calculations, we figured that the energy from the shock had manifested into Phantom, just like that ghost had said. The problem was that instead of forming outside of Danny or Danny being overshadowed, Phantom was attached to Danny's molecular structure. My baby boy was living with a ghost inside him, controlling him, making sure that it survived like some sort of parasite.

It all made sense now. The sudden fear and interest in our inventions, his reclusiveness it was all part of Phantom controlling my baby. Tears slid down my face once more as I thought of Danny and what he must be living through every day. Not even having control of your own body, setting off every ghostly device in the house; having to fear your own parents.

How long had it been since I'd seen my _real_ son? How often was Phantom in control of him and how often was it really my Danny? How many times had I thought I was hugging my baby when I was really hugging a disgusting monster? How many times had I had the opportunity to see the clues when I had placed the blame on faulty equipment? I was an appalling mother. I had failed my son for two years without even knowing it.

The sound of glass breaking reached my ears. I didn't really care that that was the thirtieth beaker Jack had broken since we found out about Danny. Somehow it seemed right that everything was broken. It seemed so wrong for other things to be in working order when my baby boy was gone and hurting. It wasn't fair that the beaker should be allowed to go on being whole when my baby was being torn apart from the inside out.

We had to figure out a way to help him get better, Jack and I both agreed. We had no clue where Danny was though, and without him here there wasn't anything we could do. Jack thought that he could be in the Ghost Zone. It was plausible, but we didn't know if the Ghost Zone had the sustenance that my baby would need to live. He still did need food and water, he had clearly needed to eat and drink when we were unaware of his condition.

With Phantom controlling him and his humanity able to cover up his ghostly signature we wouldn't be able to find him. No that putrid ghost inside him would make sure to keep well away from us. I was convinced we would need a way to lure the Phantom inside my baby boy, to us. I had a couple of theories as to how we would go about that, but I couldn't do anything about it. Not yet.

Phantom, before we knew he was really a disease infecting Danny, had been classified as a 6.5 on the ecto-scale. We had no way to hold a ghost that rated that high on the power spectrum besides in a Fenton thermos. The Phantom in my baby boy would find a way to escape before we could get him out of the thermos and into whatever device we came up with. We needed to develop a way to hold him. It would be simple enough, we only needed to collect enough ectoplasm and deconstruct it to its simplest form. If we condensed enough of that and infuse it into something, say handcuffs or a cage of some sort, he wouldn't be able to do anything to escape. Sure we manufactured our own synthetic ectoplasm for our weapons, but the molecular structure of that substance was not stable enough to contain something more powerful than a 4.0. Only natural ectoplasm would work.

We had figured this out a day or two ago and had already started collecting as much ectoplasm as we could. The only way to get ectoplasm, however, is from a ghost. It's what they're composed of, and is usually most abundant in an area where it suits their offensive abilities. We typically can't hold one down long enough to collect any however. The largest amount we've collected at one time was about three cups of it. Condensed, that turns out to about one tablespoon.

This strange blue ghost in overalls and a beanie had shown up several times already, so we were familiar with its tactics. We managed to get it to the ground while it was shouting something and sever its hand from the rest of its body. The hand quickly started to liquefy into its natural state after it was separated and Jack only just managed to get most of it into a container. The ghost nonetheless got away before we could collect any more.

It didn't really matter though, how much ectoplasm we collected, or how powerful of a ghost we could hold if we didn't have a way to help Danny when we had him. That was what I was working on currently, coming up with something that would cure him when we finally did have him back with us.

A few tears fell from my face. It always came wandering back to the fact that my baby boy was gone and hurting! I wasn't there to protect him. I hadn't helped him when he was with me and now, when I knew that he needed help in the first place, he was gone.

I looked again to the papers I had strewn over the table top and scolded myself for letting a teardrop get onto the ink. I needed these plans! They were the only thing that could offer my baby hope and I had ruined them with a stupid teardrop! What was I supposed to do now!

I shoved all of the papers off of the table and onto the floor, joining a whole host of other trash that was already there. My leg bounced violently up and down and I lightly pounded my forehead with my fist. I had to use that genius brain to come up with something to help my baby. None of that had been worth anything anyway; it wasn't going to do me any good. They were all harebrained ideas that weren't going to work in a million years. I needed to focus.

I stilled myself, but quickly found that if I stopped moving I swiftly became tired. I resisted slapping myself for even thinking about sleeping at a time like this. What sort of mother wants to sleep and hide behind their dreams in this sort of situation!

I stopped breathing as the idea hit me. How could I have been so stupid! It was perfect we had even invented it to prevent ghostly disease in the first place! I stood up out of the dining room chair; knocking the table over with a crash and not really caring. We had to get to work right away; there was no time to lose. Tears flooded out of my eyes with joy. It was so perfect. Perfect enough to save my baby! I sprinted down the stairs to the lab screaming at the top of my lungs on the way.

"JACK! JACK, GET THE GHOST CATCHER! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!"

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**Third Person**

The Box Ghost looked with a grimace at the space that his hand would have been. A crude harpoon hook was now in its place. The pain was still there. It tremored through his body if he so much as brushed the hook that replaced it now. He thought he could still feel his fingers in the leathery gloves he usually wore. Well that would be 'glove' now. He closed his eyes and let himself believe that his hand was still there. He wiggled his fingers and stretched them out.

"Hey the pirate thing was my bit you copy cat!" The Box Ghost turned around to see Youngblood floating behind him, done up in his pirate garb today. Youngblood continued when he saw that The Box Ghost had made no move to take off his hook. "Well common! I already caught you, and nobody likes a copycat. You're pirate costume isn't even good!" The Box Ghost just stared solemnly at Youngblood. All of the enthusiasm The Box Ghost previously possessed was gone. He had felt true pain for the first time in his afterlife. He didn't see any point in trying anymore. Another voice came up from behind them.

"Youngblood, there you are! You better not have dragged me all the way out here to…" Johnny 13 trailed off when he came upon the two silent specters. The Box Ghost continued to absently stare and Youngblood continued to try to communicate, now resorting to waving frantically in front of The Box Ghost's face. Johnny grabbed Youngblood's flailing arms and put them at his side.

"Whoa little man. I am not going to babysit you anymore if you keep acting like that, not cool." Johnny by now had noticed The Box Ghost's uncharacteristic silence and was a little intrigued by what was going on. Youngblood pulled away from Johnny as he replied.

"You are not my babysitter! I am fifty two years old now. I don't need one! Besides this idiot won't admit that I came up with the pirate thing way before he did." Johnny ignored the majority of Youngblood's retort, but was confused by what he caught at the end. It didn't look like The Box Ghost was wearing a pirate costume. It was then that Johnny noticed the hook. The difference was that Johnny recognized the prosthetic for what it was. A look of deep shock came over his face. How had this happened? The ghosts in the Ghost Zone generally left The Box Ghost alone if he wasn't trespassing or being particularly annoying. How had he managed to get himself hurt like this?

"Hey man, what happened?" The Box Ghost came out of his daze slightly and looked slowly around. He finally settled his gaze on Johnny.

"Pain… so much pain." The Box Ghost looked to his arm before quickly looking away like he was forbidden to set his eyes on the prosthesis. Johnny only became more curious.

"Who did this to you?" The Box Ghost looked vacantly at Johnny.

"Fentons." Now, Johnny was really thrown for a loop with that one.

"You mean the twerp did this to you! I know that he was living with Plasmius now and that there was a strict hands off policy, but I didn't think-"

"No" Johnny almost got mad, being interrupted by The Box Ghost of all people. A quick look at those empty eyes though and any wish to cause him pain was gone. Instead he ignored the interruption and pressed further.

"If it wasn't the little man, then who else was it? It couldn't have been the red head. She has horrible aim. Wait, do you mean that the old man did this to you?" The Box Ghost only gave one solemn nod before he was tired of being ogled at and started to fly away. Neither Johnny nor Youngblood followed after him.

"Dude." Johnny turned over the possibility in his head. The two human ghost hunters were notorious for being clumsy and incompetent. Though, it's not like they got to fight the human hunters very often. Phantom usually was there way before the humans even knew they were outside the ghost zone. Was it possible that without Phantom there to get to him first, they had done this? Youngblood piped up beside Johnny.

"I don't believe it. There's no way that those two grown-ups did that. They could barely fire a gun straight when _I_ saw them." Johnny just shook his head.

"I dunno pipsqueak. I just don't know."

"Yeah well… Hey, I am not a pip-squeak!"


	26. Chapter 26: Like, OMG!

AN:/ Alright a lot of people repeatedly reviewed and said they wanted reactions to Danny's little fight. Now I originally wasn't planning on getting to the effects of Danny's changed attitude until a little later, but i thought i could throw you all a bone and put this in there. It's really short because I think it really doesn't need to be said and i will get into more detail about what everyone thinks of Danny after his attitude makeover, but it'll just be a little later.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 26: Like, OMG!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, October 9, 2010, 10:05PM_

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**Danny's POV**

_**Music=Life:**__ Okay, I think I figured out what it means._

_**Rumplestiltskin:**__ Well go ahead and share with the rest of the world you retard!_

_**Music=Life:**__ Fine gezze hold on. Roughly translated it means:_ _As yet I to occupy anyone this wealth and I fui to say when you are cry. I will be ready to proceed any time you are. We can to place our variety aside to go when our first order sentiment can not we? This is now eighteen twenty five and Nolle when to emerge slow. I fui much of deed to turn upon when my Dad to run up under me very to stay to the end night. I will notice you upon few miner then._

_**Rumplestiltskin:**__ That doesn't make any sense you moron!_

_**Music=Life:**__ I said it was roughly._

_**Idknidc:**__ Guys just chill. It doesn't really matter exactly what he said anyway. _

_**:**__ Are you retarted? Of course it does! How did he know all of that Latin? It was like he was fluent! He doesn't even take a Latin class he's in MC11._

_**Your_Mom:**__ I don't know how he knew it, but it was impressive. That whole fight was impressive. He made Bill look like a real idiot. _

_**Rumplestiltskin:**__ So now just because he won, one fight, he's legit? He's still a posser! _

_**Sexi-mexi:**__ That fight was hilarious. I can't believe Bill lost that badly. He was at least a couple inches taller than the kid. It didn't even look like the guy was trying!_

_**HummanCalculator:**__ It wasn't just the fight, you should have seen him the rest of the day. He was acting like the freaking warden of manners. He reminded me of my mother. Holding doors and saying thank you all the time. You should have seen him in fencing today. It was like talking to someone straight out of the middle ages._

_**97532468:**__ I don't know about the rest of you but I think his sort of chivalry is exactly what this place needs._

_**:**__ Are you saying you actually like the twerp?_

_**97532468:**__ Yes, more than any other of the so called 'men' that go to this school. At least there are some gentlemen left in the world. _

_**Rumplestiltskin:**__ I am more of a gentlemen than that hillbilly will ever be. _

_**97532468:**__ Oh really? Did you ever carry Jessica Parker's books or hold the door open for her when you saw she had a broken leg from a sports injury?_

_**:**__ It's all an act. He really isn't like that. We all saw what he was like yesterday._

_**Idknidc:**__ Oh so the fight this morning was an act? That was one well rehersed battle scene. _

_**Sexi-mexi:**__ I don't want to get in a fight with this guy. The way he beat Bill, he could probably take someone's head off if he wanted._

_**:**__ Don't tell me you're afraid of this kid. He's got nothing._

_**Music=Life:**__ Dude you're in denial._

_**Sexi-Mexi:**__ Yeah, were you there this morning? Go watch a video again, you obviously didn't understand it the first time._

_**:**__ I am not in denial I'm just the only one left around here with any sense of pride!_

_**Idknidc:**__ Pride my ass. You can't say, after watching that fight, that the man doesn't know how to throw a punch._

_**:**__ He never even threw a punch in the first place!_

_**Idknidc:**__ Point?_

_**:**__ I can't believe this. So just because he knows how to fight you all are going to go and treat him like a king now?_

_**Idknidc:**__ I never said I worshiped the man. I'm just saying with his connections and that sort of skill, not exactly a person you want on your bad side._

_**:**__ He's still a moron! The fact that he knows some moves isn't going to do him squat when he's running a company._

_**I-hate-suits:**__ Nu-uh dude._

_**:**__ WTF!_

_**I-hate-suits:**__ Did you correct his homework today? Obviously you didn't get a look at his business portfolio either. If he didn't know anything about Bussiness before, he's going to learn real quick. He built himself a miniature version of Masters' portfolio so that it would fit within the guidelines._

_**Music=Life:**__ Woah, really?_

_**:**__ I give up you are all hopeless._

I allowed myself a satisfied smirk before I went to click to the next page as I sat in the limo on the way home from school. Of course there were going to be people who were still going to hate me because of where I came from, but that was to be expected. Those people were just stubborn; and as long as they stayed out of my way they would be fine. What mattered was that I was no longer a person that could be easily taken advantage of in the majority of people's eyes. No longer was I some naive little boy. Oh no, that fight this morning had done its job and done it well. I was a threat now, and people knew it. I definitely wouldn't have to deal with most of peoples crap anymore. Mission accomplished.


	27. Chapter 27: Now Say Ahh

AN:/ Two words people, MARCHING BAND! that's the only excuse i really have to throw at you. That and school, and college aplications. other than that though i'm not going to defend myself. yes it's been a long time, but i really wanted to get this right. I'm still pretty sure that when I go back through after i've finnished writting the story that i'll change a couple things. But i think it serves it's purpose for now. If you ask me Vlad still seems a little detached, but idk really how to fix it anymore. I'm satisfied with the chapter right now so yeah. I hope it lives up to everyones expectations and that you think that everyone stays in charecter. I'm not sure if i stayed true on that front ethier, but idk, you jsut have to let me know in a review. (Please?) anyway happy reading!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 27: Now Say Ahh...

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, October 9, 2010, 10:14PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

I walked down the hallway towards Daniel's room; trying to prepare myself for what I would discover this evening. It had become apparent that the boy was more than physically fit after a short time training him. However the tales that I had read in his diary painted a picture of a boy who was far too used to working through pain. I would not be fooled by the façade Daniel chose to put up for everyone else. It was entirely possible that more than a few of his bones had healed incorrectly, or that he had some sort of severe scarring.

I was readying myself to see the evidence that those horrific injuries had left behind. I had a hard time holding my emotions in check when I was merely reading about the damage. I would have to be diligent about maintaining a confidant air if I came across anything that the boy may have collected from his ghost fights.

I was determined to remain composed for the boy's sake, however, and I was not putting this off because _I _was uncomfortable with it. This was something that needed to be taken care of sooner rather than later. I was sure that the most I would find were a few incorrectly set bones and a few scars. I would attempt to control my own anger or worry for Daniel's sake. He didn't need someone to 'freak out' because of what he had been through. He was with me now and that was all that mattered. Nothing more could happen to him when I was watching over him. No ghost that valued their afterlife would dare to get near Daniel when I was the one protecting him. There was nothing to worry about.

I approached Daniel's door and gave it a gentle knock.

"_Yeah."_

I slowly cracked the door open. Inside, I found Daniel's room a mess; despite the fact that I had the maids come in every day to straighten it out. On his bed, papers were strewn over it like a copy machine had exploded there. A small clear spot was in the middle of the mess against the headboard large enough for someone to have sat there. Daniel had apparently wasted no time in getting out of his suit either, as that was strewn over the floor like a clothes trail towards his closet.

Daniel himself was now in what he preferred to wear; an unbuttoned oxford, undershirt, and jeans. He was sitting over on his computer; engrossed in some game or another. Without turning around to see exactly who had opened his door he spoke.

"Hey thanks for the sandwich. Can you bring it over here real quick? I'm almost to level 34 and I need to be able to concentrate. I only have one life left and I need to pay attention or else I have to start all over." Daniel's fingers flew over the keyboard typing something or another. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the teen, curious as to what he was doing; also not wanting to reveal my true identity just yet.

Looking over his shoulder I saw that he was playing some sort of videogame. There was a character on the screen in some sort of blue armor running around in an oversized jungle. Glimpsing at the characters face I saw that it must have been an avatar that they boy created to look like himself. A smirk curled onto my face as I spoke a little louder than was necessary behind Daniel's shoulder.

"I assume all of your homework is done if you are playing games so intently?" Daniel jolted violently around in his chair to face me. The look of surprise on his face faded into one of embarrassment when he realized who had spoken.

"Oh uh, he he. Hi Vlad. How was work today?" The boy nervously looked around his room seeming to realize it was a mess. He glanced back at me as he attempted to slide casually out of his chair to tidy up. I responded as he threw all of his clothes hastily into a hamper.

"Fairly usual as far as a day at the office goes. I trust your day at school went fine as well." I raised an eyebrow when he seemed to struggle to hide a smirk. He now moved to collecting up the papers on his bed as he responded.

"Yeah, my day went pretty well, better than I thought it would actually. So what was it that you wanted exactly?" Daniel was shuffling all of his papers together seeming distracted and repeatedly glancing back to his computer monitor. I looked to the computer also and saw that things were not looking well for his avatar without him. I sighed.

"Daniel it's just a game. Surely you will have time to-" I was cut off as there was a strangled cry. _A person _shot out from the monitor between where me and Daniel were standing and landed against the opposite wall from where the computer was stationed. I looked to Daniel in my shock; expecting an explanation. His face was as red as a stop sign in embarrassment.

I looked back to where the body had landed when I heard a groan and a shuffle. My shock only deepened when I saw that the figure who had catapulted rather suddenly from Daniel's computer was _himself. _There, getting up from his knees, was Daniel in his ghost form. This second version of Daniel got up and looked angrily at the original; seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was there.

"Well thank you so much for warning me about the python coming up behind me. You of all people would know how awesome I think surprise attacks are. I thought we had a plan! We were almost to level 34!" The original Daniel only got redder glancing between me and his double. The Daniel in ghost form caught the human Daniel's glance in my direction and curiously followed it. He, upon seeing me as well, started to turn red just as the original Daniel had. He looked back to his double and they seemed to silently communicate with each other. The human Daniel morphed to his ghostly counterpart and the second Daniel was quickly absorbed by the first. The now single Daniel blinked a couple of times before he morphed back to his human half, his face still red with embarrassment.

I stood in silence for a moment awaiting an explanation. It was clear enough that for some reason or another, the person that had shot out of the monitor had been a duplicate. I just needed Daniel to fill me in on the rest of the story. The boy nervously rubbed the back of his neck as I waited for an explanation.

"So uh, what was it that you wanted again?" I only raised my eyebrows skeptically at the teen. As planned that was all the indication he needed to know that I expected him to explain himself. He sighed and dropped his arm.

"Well that was obviously a duplicate," he nervously studied the ground and glanced hesitantly back to me. I only continued to hold his gaze which prompted him to explain further, ", and I uh sent it into the game so it could help me out a bit." At this my expression changed from one of authority to slight surprise. I was not aware that anyone other than Technus was capable of such a feat. Daniel seemed to calm slightly as he continued without my prompting. "This one time Technus got into this Doomed game I was playing and was going to take over the internet if I didn't stop him. So I figured if he could phase himself into the game, then why couldn't I? I ended up actually in the game and beating him by trapping him in a glitch of the game called level zero. After that I started using my ghost powers in the game because they help a whole heck of a lot. Then after I got duplication under my belt I could send a duplicate into the game while I sat on the outside and monitored everything so that I could last longer before I died. Plus it looks less suspicious if I can still be physically there in front of the computer while I'm inside the game." I smiled satisfactorily at the boy as he finished his short story. I wasn't so much impressed with the way he had discovered this use for his powers, but the way he was using them. The boy was more like me than he knew; using his ghost powers for a unique and significant advantage over others. This was a moment to be proud if I knew one. If he had the means to be the best, then I was glad he was taking advantage of them. The boy was resourceful in that way. He was clearly aware of the advantage his ghost powers presented him with. I now only had to get him to understand that that sort of opportunity was alright to take advantage of in the _real_ world as well.

"Vlad?" I came nonchalantly back to reality as Daniel gained my attention. I smiled more warmly when I saw he was confused by my reaction to his explanation. Before he could ask what I was thinking I shifted the conversation to a new topic.

"Well now that _all _of you is here I believe we can go and start that check-up I had mentioned this morning?" I saw I had effectively accomplished my goal when Daniel's face drained rapidly of color.

I resisted outwardly frowning at his reaction. It was better that I remained confidant if he was nervous. It would not help his nerves any if he knew I was anxious about this as well. Though as placid as I remained on the outside I could not stop myself from wondering on the inside. Why was the boy so nervous? He knew that I knew he fought ghosts. Even if he didn't know that I had his journal, he surely would expect that I wouldn't judge him for what I might discover. How could I? I had no right. I brought Daniel slowly back to reality as I motioned for us to move towards the door.

"Well we won't get there by just standing here. That is until I teach you teleportation I suppose." The boy hesitantly followed me to the hall and shut the door behind us. I waited until his footfalls were beside mine to continue to the infirmary. It worried me that he had not said a word; even after I mentioned teleportation which I knew he was eager to learn. There was obviously something about this that was making him uncomfortable. Whether it was the fact that _I _would be administering the check-up, or that he had something to hide; I wasn't sure. I wished the boy would calm down and tell me what was troubling him either way. There really was no need for him to be so uptight about this; it all had the potential to go very smoothly if I had the boy's cooperation. I was not going to push conversation on him however. I would take things at his pace if that's what it took to get this done correctly.

We walked silently along the halls. He followed where I lead him and was never more than a step behind. I could almost feel the tension rolling off of Daniel's shoulders as we got closer and closer to our destination. It was approaching ridiculous once we were almost half way there. I was unsure whether to try to break the silence or to let Daniel overcome the tension by himself. Though that dilemma was solved when Daniel decided he'd had enough of the heavy silence. He opened his mouth to gain my attention.

"So it's going to be you that's going to be doing everything right? Nobody else is going to be there?" I smiled sincerely at the teen, trying urgently to bring him some sort of calm. He was oblivious though to any attempt at a relaxed atmosphere I was making and he continued to stare nervously between the floor and me as we walked along. I resisted sighing as I gave the boy the response he was looking for.

"Yes, I will be the one 'doing everything' as you put it. No one outside of the two of us will have any access to anything that could jeopardize you or me. I assure you that every precaution has been taken as far as our own integrity goes." As I answered Daniel didn't seem to relax as much as some sort of notion in him solidified. He was still anxious; however he seemed much surer of what he was anxious about. He didn't hesitate to ask me another question.

"So how exactly do I know that you know what you're doing?" The question wasn't asked in a way that was meant to be insulting. He seemed more just curious as to how I knew anything about medical procedures. I conversationally replied to the inquiring teen.

"Well to begin with, you already know that I spent a great deal of time in a hospital. I am rather familiar with the ins and outs of regular medical check-up procedure." I glanced to Daniel. I saw him awkwardly nod, and look to the side as if he were uncomfortable with me discussing the subject of my time in the hospital. I continued with my response as if I hadn't known he was uncomfortable in the slightest. "However that hardly qualifies me to administer any sort of medical test though does it? I suppose you deserve to know that I do have a 2 year medical degree. Nothing spectacular enough to make me a practicing physician, but I have studied in the field enough to know what I am doing. I might mention that I largely have to take care of my own medical needs. No one was sure what to do with me while I was in the hospital. I mostly just sat there and they watched to see if I would suddenly turn to some sort of goop. Finally when they decided that I was 'stable' they let me out of the hospital and I was on my own as far as what I was to do for medicine. It was then that I started researching and collaborating about my new physiology and how it compared to an ordinary person's. I spent a good deal of time figuring out what my new 'normal' was. I would venture to say that I would be the best person to attend to your medical needs. If not only because I more fully understand the differences between us and the rest of the world." I looked curiously to Daniel to see what his reaction to all of this was. Much to my relief he looked at least a fraction calmer than he had before. At least now instead of nervousness, cautious curiosity was played out on his face. There was a silent moment before Daniel responded to anything I had said.

"I guess that makes sense." I grinned once more at the boy walking beside me as I gradually slowed to a stop.

"I would hope so. Alright then Daniel, here we are." I stopped in front of a door that looked like all of the others. Daniel paused momentarily before he nodded and stepped through the door which I had opened for him. I followed behind and shut the door attentively.

The infirmary I had installed was a fairly intricate one. However the room we had emerged into gave nothing away to the large network of rooms that made up my medical wing. The room we were currently in was actually fairly small and done up to look like a standard pediatrician's room. The hallway we had just come from contained the doorways to the other rooms that made up my medical facilities. Each room in that particular hallway was equip with what I might need to tend to anything medical. I had purchased all of the standard machinery present in a hospital. An X-ray machine, MRI, ventilator, heart monitor, ect. Each piece of technology had its own place and room to be stored in. I had also acquired a fair amount of standard drugs. Morphine, Vicoden, anesthetics, antibiotics, all of the standard medicine a person might need was also stored away. In case of an emergency I also had a room prepped for intensive care. I had gone the full 'nine yards' you might say with this particular feature of my mansion. As I had said to Daniel, I needed to be able to manage my own medical needs. Having all of the right supplies and equipment for that purpose was a large part in that.

The room we had walked into, as I said earlier, was done up to resemble a standard pediatricians room. There was a small sink and cabinet with all of the supplies I would need for a simple check up in it. Against the wall were an electronic measureuing stick, scale, and a doctors table for a patient to sit on. Two other chairs were also in the room to provide additional seating if need be.

"If you would take off your shoes and wait over there for a moment while I get everything we'll need." I waved over towards where an electric scale and measuring stick were on the wall. I walked over towards a cabinet on the far side of the room to grab a few folders and charts that would record the data I collected. I opened another drawer and grabbed a pen. Flipping to the correct page, I walked back over to where Daniel was standing nervously with his head down and his feet together. He glanced to me as I came up beside the gray square on the floor that was the weight scale.

"It's not going to do anything to you dear boy. Common up you go." I smirked as Daniel sent me a quick annoyed look before cautiously stepping onto the grey platform. He and I both watched the digital numbers climb steadily for a few moments before they stopped. I could not prevent the wince that played across my face as the numbers stopped climbing. I had hoped that he was underestimating this morning.

"106.348 pounds. We will have to put more meat and protein in your diet. That should help bulk you up a bit." I had spoken mostly to myself in my thoughts but I nonetheless earned a sarcastic quip.

"What are you like preparing to put me in a stew later?" I smirked laughingly at the boy. This was much more like my Daniel and I was grateful he had relaxed somewhat. There really was no need for him to be so tense.

"No, I'm afraid I have much grander plans for you. Up against the wall now. Put your feet together and make sure your ankles touch the wall" Daniel only gave me a skeptical look as he stepped off of the scale and over towards the measuring stick on the wall.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" I smiled again as I moved the slide along the track on the measuring stick so that it was pushing against the top of Daniel's head. Again the number that I needed was displayed digitally for me to record.

"65.25 inches." I muttered the number as I wrote it down on the sheet I held in my forearm. Daniel waited a moment before he said anything.

"What no comment to go with this one?" I smirked mischievously before I looked up and went to retrieve a thermometer and the sleeve I would use to record Daniel's blood pressure.

"A statement like that doesn't need a comment Daniel. It's quite effective on its own. Now open up, I need to take your body temperature." I put a plastic cover over the metal end that would record Daniel's temperature and stuck it under his tongue. I let go of the thermometer when he had it in his mouth. "After you acquired your ice powers what number does your body temperature tend to hover around?" Daniel reached up to grab the thermometer so that it wouldn't fall out when he spoke.

"I don know. Ike, seveney five uo eighy five?" I smirked at the boy's slurred speech as I wrote down the numbers he had estimated. When I looked up I caught him glaring at me. The thermometer beeped and I took it from the boy. It was within range of what Daniel had told me at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I copied this number down as well as asked more question of the boy.

"Your temperature still fluctuates quite a bit if the range you gave me is accurate. Do you ever get any headaches from the variation?" Daniel angled his head down slightly as I gave him the information seemingly nervous. He responded to the floor.

"Yeah, sometimes. I mean if I haven't used my ice powers in a while then I get kind of chilly and my head starts to hurt, but I can make that go away by just using my ice powers. But Frostbite said that's only because I'm still 'young' or whatever. He didn't say there was anything wrong with me because of it." I frowned as it became clear that the boy was worried that there was something wrong with him because of the temperature variation I had mentioned. I took notes on the information the boy was telling me as I reassured him that I had not intended to insinuate anything was wrong.

"I never said that there was anything wrong Daniel. I would be worried if you're temperature didn't fluctuate. When I first developed use of my electrical powers my temperature fluctuated just as much as yours does for a year or two only in the opposite direction. It's all a part of gaining control over you're powers. Frostbite was correct in his statement. It is only because you are still relatively new to using these powers that your temperature fluctuates so much. I only asked if you got headaches because I got them rather frequently when I was still developing my powers. They can be quite annoying and regular medicine won't do anything to help you if you can't get away to release some of your pent up energy. I was just curious if I would need to bring out some of the medicine I had developed in my college days for you, just in case." Daniel seemed to calm slightly as I explained though he was still uncertain.

"You have medicine for ghost-aches?" I gave the boy a curious look at the strange word. He blushed momentarily before he explained. "It's uh, a word my sister came up with. When none of the headache medicine we had in the house worked on this headache I had. She called it a 'ghost-ache' for more than one reason. I don't know, it just kind of stuck." I smirked amusedly at the boy's explanation as I responded.

"Yes I do have medicine for those. Now hop up on the table right there and hold out your arm. I'm sure you've had your blood pressure taken before, but just in case you might feel an uncomfortable squeeze alright?" The tear of the Velcro seemed louder than necessary as I ripped it apart so that I could get the sleeve around Daniel's upper arm. He grudgingly held out his left arm for me to use as he sat down on the table against the wall that I had indicated. I wrapped the device around Daniel's rather small arm and started to pump air into it until it became somewhat difficult. Slowly I released the pressure until I was getting the numbers I needed.

"63 over 47, your blood pressure looks to be fine." I scribbled the information down on the chart I had set on the counter and went to remove the sleeve from Daniel's arm. Instead of prompting a quip or a sarcastic remark he only seemed uncertain and reserved. I didn't like this look on him. Behind his vacant eyes was something I was very familiar with: fear and uncertainty. I didn't know whether I had stumbled upon information that the boy thought was 'strange' with his blood pressure, but his timorous behavior was making me concerned that I was missing something. Surely the boy would be able to hold himself in the face of one bit of information like that; especially if I had made no indication that what I had said was anywhere out of the ordinary. I adopted an air of seriousness as I spoke to him next.

"Daniel, is something wrong?"The boy refused to meet my gaze as I asked the question. I didn't receive an answer right away either. I had to wait a moment before it was clear that the boy was even going to answer. He only looked to me hesitantly before he spoke.

"That doesn't sound fine. I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything but aren't the numbers supposed to be higher than that? That didn't sound normal. I'm pretty sure that those numbers don't mean I'm 'fine'… and they definitely don't mean I'm normal." I frowned at what he said. So that was the problem, he believed himself to be some sort of freak. He thought that because of what he was he wasn't well or that he was 'sick' per se. yes I was relatively certain where all of this was coming from now. I adopted a serious expression as I spoke.

"Daniel, those numbers were completely standard for someone like you. With your circumstances taken into account those numbers were to be expected. My own blood pressure is 75 over 52 and the only reason my numbers are higher than yours are because I am older than you are. There is nothing wrong with you. You are a normal half ghost teenager with a normal blood pressure. Do you understand me?" He only looked unbelievingly at me. I could clearly see now that he assumed he was somehow 'sick' because of what he was. He was under the notion that because he was different that he wasn't 'normal' or 'healthy'. He believed there was no possible way for him to _not _be sick simply because what he was meant that he didn't; match up with what was expected of a normal human. I was going to have to put an end to this sort of mentality straight away. Along with being flat out wrong, the teen didn't deserve to think so lowly of himself. I wouldn't tolerate it. I responded to his look with all the sternness I could muster. He shrunk away slightly as I looked directly into his eyes but he couldn't seem to look away as I spoke.

"Daniel I want you to listen to me and listen well. You are, under _no_ circumstance, lesser than anyone else because of what you are. We are just as good if not superior to the rest of the world because of what we are. You are not a second class citizen. You are not a _freak_. You are not deformed or deficient because of what happened to you. I want you to understand me Daniel, when I say that you should **never** think of yourself as a lesser person because of what you are. I don't care what your sister or your friends have told you, I don't care what your parents have said to you, I don't care what sort of psychological insults ghosts have thrown at you over the years. I am _telling_ you, as the only other half ghost in existence, as the only other person to have had to learn the hard way what precisely being half ghost means; that you are perfect, _absolutely perfect, _exactly the way you are. And I will _**not**_ tolerate you believing anything else under my roof. Am I understood?" I never broke eye contact with the boy as I made my speech. I stressed every syllable and put dire importance in every word. The teen needed to believe this. I would have it no other way. Daniel's eyes were wide as I held his gaze. He didn't move or make any indication that he was going to answer my last question. I searched his expression for any sign that he had rejected what I had said and found nothing. He only sat staring back at me unable to break the hold I had over his stare. I searched his eyes and found complete awe in his gaze. Finding this, I was satisfied he had received the message. I gave a small nod and let go of my hold over his attention.

I sighed as I went back over to the cabinet I had retrieved the thermometer and blood pressure sleeve from and replaced it to its proper spot. After that I got out a stethoscope to check the boys lungs. I warmed the metal piece up with a small charge of my ecto energy as I walked back to Daniel who was still sitting on the table mostly in shock. I let my shoulders relax and tried to move past what had just happened for the boy's sake. It wouldn't do to have all of this tension in the room; I still had a few more tests to perform. I stood next to him and instructed him on what I needed him to do in a light tone of voice. Perhaps I had been a little too forceful with the boy.

"Alright Daniel I'm just going to get your heart rate before I check your lungs." I gently took Daniel's chin in my hands so that I could position two of my fingers to record his heart rate. Once I found his pulse I shrugged the sleeve up on my free arm to reveal my watch I waited for the second hand to get to the top before I counted the number of beats that would occur in a minute. Daniel remained awkwardly still in his position, only readjusting himself once or twice. I winced internally when I supposed it was because he was still skittish about letting me have this much control over his neck area. I dropped my hand instantly when the minute was up, not wanting to cause Daniel any more stress than he was already creating for himself. I clicked the pen so that I could record the number I had counted.

"A steady 32 beats per minute. Now I'll just need to check your lungs. I can't do that through your shirt. Sit up straight and breathe when I tell you." He was still silent and complied without a word. I lifted up Daniel's shirt slightly so I could get my hand on his upper back and put the stethoscope in my ears. I approximated the correct spot and rested my hand against his skin. I hesitated slightly before I told him to breathe in. Something about the way his skin felt was off. It was slightly rough and not as smooth as one might expect. I brushed it aside though, chalking it up to acne or some such nonsense. I was very familiar with the embarrassment that came along with that particular type of blemish and I wasn't going to bring attention to it if that was all it was.

"In." Daniel obediently complied with my command and breathed in as much as he could. I listened carefully but could find nothing out of the ordinary.

"Out." He released his breath full of air as I moved my hand down his back. However I got that strange notion that something was wrong again as I felt my fingers brush over several ridges. That could not be acne. I was sure it wasn't. As I had said before I was very familiar with that sort of blemish.

"In" Once more everything sounded in order so I let him breath out again as I moved my hand under his shirt to his front, again my fingers brushed over a surface that was much to rough to be Daniels skin. I would have to take a look at that when I finished this. If he had some sort of rash he was too embarrassed to tell me about then I would want to know about it. All awkwardness aside, we were here to make sure he was healthy. It was most likely just the change in detergent that was irritating his skin. It was the only plausible thing I could think of that would cause that large an area irritation.

I found the correct spot on the front of his chest and told him to breathe in once more.

"In" By the look on his face I could tell that most of the tension I had created from earlier had worn off, and he was now just sitting in silence because he could find nothing to talk about. He loudly breathed in as I listened for anything that sounded unhealthy or unordinary. Of course I found nothing here either.

"Out" He released his breath but slowly this time so that he wouldn't blow in my face. I had to smile at the boy's consideration; it was boundless. I caught the boy grinning confusedly back at me in my peripheral vision. I moved the stethoscope so that it was just a small distance below where I had just been. Again I felt the uncharacteristic roughness of his skin and my grin turned downward slightly.

"In" He complied and once more I found nothing wrong.

"Out" He released his breath for a final time. I pulled away and hung the stethoscope I was now done using around my neck. I appeared conversationally to the boy as I asked him this next question. I didn't want him getting worked up again.

"Daniel, you seem to have a rash of some sort would you take off your shirt so that I can have a look at it. I might have something to help it go away." I had not expected the reaction Daniel had to my request. His expression dropped before he quickly forced himself to look back at me. I could tell he was putting on a mask of false confidence as he spoke next.

"I don't feel itchy or anything. I'm pretty sure I don't have a rash." I frowned at the boy. It was clear he was nervous about taking his shirt off in front of me. I knew the boy was modest in this regard but never to this extent. Once more if it wasn't a rash that was causing his skin to be so uneven, I definitely wanted to get a better look. I would have to play my cards carefully if I wanted his continued cooperation.

"Daniel, I'm not going to laugh at you, you know. I understand you might be uncomfortable taking off your shirt but if it isn't a rash then I still need to know why your skin felt so rough. There is clearly something wrong. As I said before I may have something to help you. I'm not going to do anything to you; I just want to get a better look so I can see if there is anything wrong." Daniel settled comfortably into his façade of false confidence rather quickly, he didn't hesitate in what he said next.

"I'm sure there isn't anything wrong Vlad everything is fine. Why do you want me to take off my shirt so badly anyway?" He adopted a look of suspicion and doubt. My eyes widened in shock, and I almost vomited at what the boy was insinuating. At seeing my reaction to his subtle suggestion he smiled that mischievous smile that he usually reserves for when he's lured and enemy into a trap. I hastily attempted to recompose myself, but even Daniel had clearly seen that the remark had had the intended effect. I settled with a small glare at the boy.

"You know very well that, that is not why I want you to take your shirt off. I can't believe you would even suggest such a thing." Daniel smirked and held his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Hey what am I supposed to think when you repeatedly tell me to take my shirt off with no good reason?" I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose sinking into one hip. I knew perfectly well what the boy was trying to do and no matter how much I wanted to move away from the accusations of such a vile thing I needed to know what the boy was so adamant about hiding from me. I responded to the boy in a tired and annoyed voice.

"That I was concerned when you seemed to have adapted the skin of a crocodile. There is clearly something wrong, and you and I both know it." Daniel never missed a beat as he replied now looking slightly disgusted.

"Wait, you were _feeling_ my skin just a minute ago? Vlad you can't really deny that-"

"Daniel James Masters, you know full well that was not my intention! That sort of thing is sick and vile, and I will not tolerate being accused of such things in my own home! You will stop trying to avoid the subject and you will take off your shirt so that I can see what is wrong." My fists clenched at my sides and the boy shrunk slightly on the table. I tried desperately to keep my eyes from turning red. I don't really care if the boy was only joking that sort of thing was disgusting. I would not stand it in my household. I tried to get a hold of myself as I glanced back to the boy to see what he had to say.

Any trace of sarcasm or confidence was gone from the boy's face as he looked up to me in fear. He was completely still as he watched me with the reserve of a frightened animal. My anger instantly evaporated at seeing the boy so alarmed. I had not meant to lose control like that. I didn't want to make the boy afraid of me. I relaxed my mussels and found my way over to one of the spare chairs not five feet away. Daniel just continued to sit on the table not daring to say or do anything more unless he was instructed. I sighed and held my forehead in my hands as I spoke to the boy once more.

"I'm simply concerned little badger. The fact that you are so adamant about hiding this from me only makes me worry more. Your health is not something I want to play games with. I only want to see what the matter is, and if I can do anything to help. I don't know if you think I'm going to judge you, if you think I can't help you, if you think I'll laugh, or be disgusted, but I can assure you that that will not be the case. I spent several years in a hospital Daniel; years with a face that most people were too disgusted to look at. All I want to do is see if I can help. That is all." The silence in the room after I finished pressed on the inside of my eardrums. As I sat there and waited for what the boy would do. My ears perked up as I heard the boy shuffle around but I forced myself to keep my eyes to the ground. I was going to wait for Daniel to come to me. That was all I could do. All I could do was hope that I hadn't terrified the boy so much that he wouldn't ever be sure that I cared. Daniel once again seemed to still as silence occupied the room. If I focused I could hear the tiny cogs in my watch move with the passing of each second. Finally there was a small cough.

"uhm, V-Vlad?" I slowly lifted my head to find Daniel still sitting on the table with his arms locked, propping him up. He was slouched over himself as if he were embarrassed. His shirt lay in a small clump on the table next to him. My eyes went wide as I understood why Daniel had been so resistant to take off his shirt. He was absolutely covered

with scars

They decorated his torso like a thick of spider webs. Thin lines criss-crossed each other everywhere like a tangle of fiberglass with the occasional larger one dominating an area. There were spots were they were more concentrated around his upper chest and near his vital organs. I forced myself to remain calm as I slowly stood up to get a closer look. I had been expecting scars yes, but nothing like this. Daniel looked away from me in shame as I got closer. I halted as I was about three feet from him. What on earth had this boy been through? Why hadn't anyone done anything, including myself? How had he accumulated so many marks of pain? Why hadn't he gone to someone for help? I spoke to the boy, making my voice as calm and warm as I could.

"Daniel would you stand up please." He only glanced at me before he hopped off of the table and stood hunched in front of me. Now that I was closer I could see that the layer of scars wrapped around his front and onto his back. There was something that caught my attention though as I looked closer around his neck and elbows. The lines would seem to get very condensed in these areas and instead of fading back to being scarce they stopped abruptly along a line that traveled over his shoulders along his collar bone or a line that traveled in a circle around his lower arms. I opened my mouth to ask him about the curious formation.

"How is it that-"

"After I started getting hit more. I put armored plates in my gloves and the collar around my neck so that if I couldn't stop the blow it wouldn't be able to penetrate my hazmat. The line is where the plates I put in, end." I nodded slowly and walked a small circle around him so that I got a good look at his back as well. The scars were just as thick as they were on his front. As I came back around I grabbed his shirt off of the table and handed it to him.

"That was all I needed. You can put this back on if you like." I found myself having to sit back down after I handed him his clothing. Even after he had put everything back on I could still see the horror that covered the boy's skin. Unable to stop myself I asked another question.

"Are your legs like that as well?" I glanced back up to the teen to watch him give me a hesitant nod. I immediately looked back to the floor holding my forehead in my hands once again. I was honestly struggling to comprehend what I had seen. The pain that he must have endured. Constantly having some sort of gash in his side. Could he even identify what he got from where anymore? It was like looking at a heavily used cutting board…

"Vlad are you going to be okay?" I looked up at the question. Daniel had moved so that he was less than a foot from me. Struck with the absolute irony of the question I responded.

"Am I okay? You know what, no, I'm not okay. You certainly aren't 'okay'. None of that," I gestured to the boy's torso, "is 'okay'. How exactly…" I trailed off and stared at the boy's shirt at the blanket of scars that I knew was just beneath the layer of cotton. I heard Daniel sigh.

"Vlad, I'm fine now. That's all just left-overs. I don't have a single cut on me actually." The interested tone he said that last sentence in threw me off. He said it as if _not _being injured was a novelty. The whole thing was just sickening, that they boy should have been forced to go through that much suffering.

Anger for Jack and Maddie slowly broiled below the surface once more. How had they missed something like this? How could they have been ignorant for so long as to allow this to happen. Not to create excuses for myself, but I had not been living with the teen for the past two years. It was not as easy for me to pick up the fact that the teen must have needed serious medical attention on a regular basis. Those two idiots had watched him walk in and out of their house every day and obviously done nothing! I could not fathom the shear amount of paint that he must have gone through, that he had repeatedly put himself up to.

However this made it obvious I wouldn't be stopping the boy from fighting or getting into dangerous situations any time soon. Yes, I was incredibly worried, troubled, even close to panicking because of what I had seen; but I wasn't stupid. Daniel obviously hadn't lost a fight because he was still standing here. He could take care of himself, that much I was sure of, even with the proof that seemed to the contrary. I just desperately needed to teach him some god forsaken defense before he got into another fight. He was obviously just used to taking the blows and dealing with the pain rather than learning to avoid them all together. I listened as Daniel muttered to himself as he sat down beside me.

"I knew this whole check-up thing was going to be a bad idea." I turned to face the teen who was now leaning his head against the wall, staring at the ceiling. I contradicted his statement in disagreement for obvious reasons.

"No it wasn't." Daniel let his head fall to the left so that he was facing me. There was a look of absolute disbelief on his face.

"Yes Vlad, yes it was." I only gave him a stern look to which he scoffed. "Alright here let me prove it to you." He held up his hand as he ticked off fingers. "First I got to prove to you that I'm underweight, which is getting better by the way now that I have time to eat; then I got to worry you with my weird ice headaches , which compared to the pain I've been through are nothing; you got to make fun of me for my height; then I made you freak out with the whole pedophilia bit, which was a joke by the way; and now you're probably going to make me walk around in some sort of Michelin Man suit because of my scars. Right now you're probably thinking that I can't take care of myself and that you shouldn't let me outside or something. Yeah Vlad, now that you're convinced that I can't handle myself; yes, this was a really bad idea. I would know, I have them _all_ the time." Daniel moved his head so that he was staring directly in front of us when he was finished. I stared at the boy for a moment before I responded.

"Well I suppose you're right." Daniel whipped his head to look at me with a skeptical look on his face. I continued now that I had his attention. "However I gathering invaluable information, now that I know you have all of those scars I can help you get rid of them, and I know I need to teach you some defense before we work on anything else. It's not a matter of whether you can take care of yourself Daniel. I know you can, you've made it this far. Admittedly with a little more than necessary to show for it, but you have made it. No I won't be locking you in the mansion; however I do expect you to come to me if you have any more injuries, as there will be severe consequences if you don't. It's obvious that the advice 'be careful' is woefully lost on you so I will not force you to be with some cruel or unusual means. As I've already said before this point, you still need to live your life." I raised my eyebrow as the teen gave me a pointed look. There was a moment where he just stared at me; as if asking if I was serious. He finaly said something.

"So that's it? You're not gonna like; put me in a bubble suit or something? You don't care if I get into fights or not or if I'm injured and stuff?" I frowned slightly and stood up to put the stethoscope around my neck back to its proper place as I responded.

"I do care if you get into fights Daniel, and if you are injured; I care a great deal. But if I told you to stay in your room all day and not do anything to get yourself into trouble would you listen to me?" Daniel gaped for a moment before he slowly replied.

"Well, no. But-"

"Exactly. So I'm not going to waste my time by making a rule I know for a fact you are never going to follow. I would better to teach you how to defend yourself effectively so that when the time comes that you need to, you will be able to." Daniel just stared at me as I turned around to face him. I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms as the boy stuttered.

"But you can't… you're supposed to… Huh?" The teen was completely at a loss. I sighed.

"But what, Daniel?" He stared openly at me for a moment before he seemed to try to decide how to best explain his dilemma to me.

"You were supposed to freak out and tell me I'm irresponsible, and that I should have told someone, and that I'm too young for this, or something!" I raised an amused eyebrow at the teen.

"I can 'freak out' of you would prefer it. There certainly are enough reasons for me to be upset with your current state. I believe that, yes you should have told someone, and you will never be old enough to make sporting such battle scars acceptable. How exactly is me telling you any of this going to get us anywhere; especially when it's clear you already know what I'm going to say?" Daniel seemed to struggle for words once more.

"I don't know, that's just how it's supposed to go. I reveal something less than pleasant about myself and you freak out. That's how these sorts of things are supposed to play out." I shook my head with mirth as I shifted all of my weight back onto my own two feet. I turned to move towards the table the teen had previously been seated on.

"Daniel, I don't know why you insist on upholding these ridiculous notions about how things 'should' be. Especially when it is clear for the both of us that things are far from it. Now come, unless you would like to spend the remainder of your evening in here we need to continue. I have more tests to perform." I patted my hand down on the table indicating I wanted the teen to hop up once more. He only hesitated slightly before he complied and hefted himself out of the chair he had been slouched in and swung himself back up onto the table; of course not without something to say about it.

"What you mean we're not done? What else do you have to do?" I smiled at the boy before I told him what exactly my plans were.

"Oh you didn't think that was all I had in store for you dear boy now did you? Heavens no, especially after seeing what you just showed me we have plenty more tests to do, x-rays to take, blood to be drawn. We are far from done Daniel. I have only just scratched the surface of what I have planned to make sure you are healthy. To tell the truth we haven't even covered the basics of a standard check-up yet." The boys face abruptly fell as he whined at my reply.

"How long are we going to be here? I'm perfectly fine Vlad, honestly! You've got to have enough information now to give me the right amount of medicine anyway." I only smirked slyly behind the boy's back as I reached into the cupboard to retrieve the otoscope I would need to check the boy's ears and mouth.

"Daniel surely you've figured out long before now that I was intending to use this opportunity for more than just that." When I turned around, the look in the boys eyes clearly told me that he had, but it hadn't stopped him from hoping to the contrary. The look only made me laugh, which prompted Daniel to say something.

"Oh sure it's funny for you, you don't have to sit here and be the human pin cushion!" I smiled once more as I got back to business slightly pulling back the teen's ear to pear inside.

"Techniquely that would be a half ghost pin cushion." The boy only sighed exasperatedly in defeat. That meant it was another point for me.


	28. Chapter 28: Friend or Foe I Don't Quite

AN:/ I know it's been a long time, No i have not dropped off the face of the earth, No i have not abandon this story, No i have not hit writters block. It's called State Final's for marching band. If you know anything about Marching Band, you'd know that it takes ALL of your time. And if it doesn't take all of your time, it takes all of your energy. for those of your who are curious, I'm in colorguard, and I play trumpet for concert season. I had state last saturday, we got seventh out of eleventh, we went in a eighth and we did better than expected. Okay and another thing. I get at least 100 hits a day and I have no clue why. What are you people doing? re-reading the story every day? it's kind of weirding me out. You dont have to check every day, just put the story on your alerts list it's way easier. That's why the list was created. Oh and another thing, this chapter is BIG so i'm sure there is grammar stuff i missed. Just forewarning you. Okay enjoy! and please review!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 28: Friend or Foe, I Don't Quite Know

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 8:28PM_

_Edited: Sunday, November 8, 2010, 12:18 AM (because it was pointed out to me that i am stupid and there was some major inconsistency as far as who knows who goes.)  
_

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**Danny's POV.**

"Very good Daniel you're making good progress." Vlad wore a proud smirk while I just gave him a disbelieving look.

"It's the size of a 3 by 5 note card Vlad. You can make ones the size of walls." Vlad only lightly chuckled as he clapped me on the back.

"Daniel, you underestimate yourself. You have only been practicing for a few days. I have been honing the skill since before you were born. You really are making incredible progress." I shook my head and decided to take the compliment for what it was worth. I reabsorbed the solid energy into my hands and waited for what Vlad would have me do next.

We were training again. Vlad had made it routine to train after dinner if my homework was done; and most of the time it was, if I didn't have any questions. but even if I had some there was usually still time that Vlad had me go up to the training room with him. I had to say I looked forward to the time in here. I usually walked, or floated I guess, away from here knowing something new that could help me in the future. I was still working on solid energy, but that was coming along. Vlad had already taught me how to make my ecto-blasts more efficient. I could even use my ice energy and my ecto-energy at the same time now. I had never been able to do that before.

"Alright Daniel I think it's about time we start to wind this down. Why don't we go over what I've taught you so far with some target practice?" I nodded in agreement and Vlad gave the command to the computer that controlled the room.

"Computer, bring up stationary targets." The room wasn't so cliché that it responded in some computerized womanly voice, rather it just obeyed the command and a line of classic red bulls eye targets came up from the floor. Vlad didn't need to tell me he was moving to watch from the control room. We had done this enough times now that I knew he would be there when I was doing my 'review'. I asked him what was in there once and he said that it was all just equipment that monitored the intensity of my ecto-blasts and my energy levels and stuff.

I felt a little more relaxed when he was in there. I mean I knew he was watching me and stuff, but he wasn't right there over my shoulder; like he was when I was learning new things. I could let loose a little bit, maybe perfect a few trick shots.

I didn't need a cue to start as soon as Vlad was in the control room, I went ahead with it. I started out with really little ecto-blasts; the kind I can shoot from my index finger like a little gun. I aimed to a target that was towards the far left of the room and started firing. The first shot drilled a hole about the size of a penny directly through the bull's eye. Vlad had been impressed with my aim when I had showed him. I was pretty good about hitting the bull's eye consistently. Aim had been another big thing that had mattered when I fought ghosts back in Amity, especially when missing meant hitting an innocent person. I continued to fire at the same target with the same type of blast until I was satisfied. When I was done it looked like a caterpillar had eaten away at the middle of the target. I smiled and decided to move on to my next type of blast, the one I used most often.

I almost mindlessly made a small ball of energy in my hand about the size of a tennis ball and fired it from my hand at a random target. The blast was bigger so my aim was not as accurate, but it was still pretty good. I fired a few more and they all hit in the same general spot though they weren't as perfect as my littler blasts. I thought for a moment about how Sam and Tucker never understood why my aim wasn't as good as it was with my little blasts. They argued that I used the bigger ones way more than the little ones so I should techniquely be more accurate with them because I had more practice. What they didn't get was that it was easier to aim and control the little ones. I could literally point and shoot with the little ones. I had to really think about aiming when I used the bigger ones. Even though through my practicing over the past two years I had gotten a lot better. I almost never missed my mark anymore.

It irritated me to no end whenever they said that kind of thing. It was one of many many things that they just did not understand about having ghost powers. I let a little more energy than I had intended into my next blast as thoughts of anger formed in my head.

They never understood the limitations that came along with the powers I have. They would always complain about how often I trained, saying that I needed to give myself a break; and then when they saw that maybe my aim was a little bit off they would ask what was wrong. _"It's not like you're aiming a gun Danny, you're aiming your own energy. You said yourself it was easier to aim your own energy than the weapons your parents make." _

I decided I was done with ecto-blasts and moved on to icicles as I refocused my thoughts. They thought I was some invincible being that could take anything, but I'm not. They didn't understand that I couldn't just make a few duplicates and let them patrol the city while I hung out with them, because that took a lot of energy and stamina that I didn't have. I mean yeah I could go for a pretty long time before I was spent, but duplicates took more energy than just an ecto-blast or something. It was always really confusing too, because I had tried it before and whenever my duplicate ran into a ghost it would always unintentionally communicate with me what was going on. It was extremely draining and disorienting.

I stopped with the icicles and switched to freezing the target with ice energy and then blasting it with ecto-energy. I didn't take any notice of the small frost crystals that were forming at my feet from all of the extra energy I was using in my frustration. The targets were now replacing themselves as I destroyed them completely.

Then there were my parents who understood even less about why I was acting so tired all the time. They constantly made sure I had some chore or thing to take care of. They punished me without ever really trying to get to the root of the problem. Even if their ignorance worked to my advantage as far as keeping my secret goes, I was still frustrated about it. I mean, shouldn't they have tried a little harder to make sure I was alright? They always so easily swallowed any excuse I came up with. It was like they weren't even the least bit concerned that I could be lying. Even _now_ they didn't understand. They thought I was some evil monster or diseased person because I was half ghost!

I had rapidly frozen and blasted a good twenty targets already so I moved on to my next thing; which was new. Vlad had only just taught me this three days ago, and I was still pretty new at it. Thoughts of my 'family and friends' drifted to the back of my mind as I concentrated on my task.

I first made a ball of ectoplasm in my hand and then slowly concentrated on bringing my ice energy to my hand as well. At first the two energies sat in my palm separately as two different spheres, and then they would work themselves together into one bigger ball of energy. They didn't blend together completely like when you mix drinks or something, it was more like mixing oil and water together. The energy that the sphere in my hand gave off sent shivers down my spine. It was a lot different than what I was used to. I could tell it was more powerful than any sort of blast I had used before. This same blast could do the job of about five of my regular ones. I don't know why these were so much more efficient, but they were. Vlad said it had something to do with my energies working together and reinforcing each other or whatever.

I raised my hand a little hesitantly and prepared to fire. These blasts really flew because of how much energy was in them. I aimed carefully and let it rip. My aim proved true and I hit the target. It instantly exploded with a sharp crack like a whip or really really really loud bubble wrap. The noise seemed to calm me a little bit. I made another blast and fired again; there was just something about loud noise that made me feel better. I started varying the ratio of ecto to ice to see what would make a louder noise. I had gotten to about the level of a gunshot when I noticed the targets stopped reappearing. Crap I forgot, Vlad was still in the control room watching me. I sighed and finished up with the targets I had left and waited for Vlad to reappear. I was not disappointed when he teleported a little ways beside me. When he appeared he was wearing a smile of amusement.

"Although I believe you would like to continue your little experiment, we must be getting back to our own quarters. I do think that is enough practice for today. I don't want you to over exert yourself." I nodded and sighed; I could really use a lot more energy than this before I was 'overexerting myself'. Ghost fights had brought up my stamina tenfold, especially in my human half. However, as many times as I went over this with Vlad he would not listen. Really all the training Vlad had me doing was barely making me tired at all. That's why after school before Vlad got back from work I went up to the training room and spent as much of my energy as I could. It was hard because without ghost fighting, I had a lot of it built up by the end of the day. I could actually use my ghostly wail most times without feeling too drained. I worked on trying to break my record of ten duplicates too.

I followed Vlad without prompting through the floor. We landed outside the gym and transformed back to human before we continued our conversation. I had actually requested that we walk to and from the training room every day just so I could memorize where it was. This mansion was freaking huge.

"It's been like over a week now that we've started training Vlad, when are you going to teach me teleportation and stuff? I swear I've got more than enough energy to do it." Vlad adopted a disapproving look before he responded.

"Now Daniel I've been over this with you. I don't think you are ready for such a skill yet. I would like you to better understand the anatomy of your ghost half before you start with that sort of ability. I'm surprised you got as far with duplication as you did without any of that knowledge." I just shook my head; overprotective fruitloop.

"So what are you going to do now that were done. It's only like 8:00" Vlad though for a moment before he put his hand in his pocket and responded.

"I suppose I'll work on s getting some of my files in order before I retire for the evening. How about you?" I shrugged obviously before I answered.

"I dunno the usual I guess: I'll stare at the homework I still have to make up and then when I get bored of that I'll play Doomed until I go to bed." Vlad scoffed at my reply. I couldn't tell if it was in amusement or disbelief, though it sounded like a mixture of the two.

"Well I suppose it's better than you trying to blatantly lie to me." There was another silence after that. It took me a minute but when Vlad didn't say anything else I realized he wasn't going to reprimand me about not doing my homework. The thought surprised me for a minute but I was grateful. I mean just because I didn't do my homework and have it done as soon as I got it didn't mean I wasn't _ever_ going to get it done. I got to school a whole twenty minutes early every day, and it was easier for me to concentrate there anyway. It was still weird though that Vlad didn't see the need to nag me about doing my homework. I had to say it was nice that he trusted me to get it done. My parents were on me constantly about doing it. Granted it might have been because I never had it done because I was fighting ghosts. But their 'reminders' had never helped with the stress aspect either. We walked along for another moment before Vlad spoke.

"If you are going to be doing nothing productive with your time on your own, perhaps you would like to help me with my files?" I quickly gave Vlad a disbelieving, disgusted look.

"Um Vlad, you really aren't making your offer of taking over your companies more appealing by mentioning all this paperwork all the time. And trying to rope me into it is only a step in the opposite direction. I'll stick to staring at my homework." Vlad got this sly look on his face with my response. Besides still creeping me out slightly, it made me curious. Through the two and a half weeks I had been here I had learned that that smirk meant that I was assuming something incorrectly, and that I would soon be enlightened of the puzzle piece I was missing.

"Dear boy I never specified these files were for work. Though I must admit you are correct in your observations. I haven't been doing a very good job of selling the offer to you have I?" Vlad drifted off, teasing me by making it look like he had forgotten about the files and was going to change the subject. By now I knew though that he was _just_ teasing me. I sighed exasperatedly before I brought the conversation back where I wanted it.

"So if they aren't for work then what _are_ they for?" Vlad smiled cunningly for a moment before gave me another one of those looks.

"I only find it fair to remind you that I never said they weren't for work either. Though I suppose you'll never find out exactly what they _are_ for if you choose to retreat to your room, now will you? Who knows, it's possible they could be files of my next 'evil plot'." I sighed in frustration, rolling my eyes while Vlad only chuckled at his own joke.

"Can't you just tell me what they're for and let me make an easy decision for once?" Vlad smirked at me.

"Now where would the fun be in that dear boy?" I shook my head and answered defeated.

"Right." And now I was left to weight the options. Option one, go with Vlad and see what these infamous 'files' were and risk being bored to death with business stuff I didn't understand yet. Option two, go to my room where I _knew _I would be bored for at least a half an hour before I gave in and played Doomed, and I would be stuck with the curiosity of never figuring out what the 'files' were.

What if it really was work stuff? That would really suck big time. I mean yeah it would be good for me because I would probably learn something from it that would get me ahead in business class and stuff, but ugh! What if it was something interesting though, like maybe he had files on my power development and stuff that he wanted to add to after today. Or maybe it was some kind of system of files he used to keep track of his inventions like my parents did. Or maybe it was files about his own powers and stuff... Or maybe it was work stuff…

I growled under my breath in frustration and shot Vlad a glare. He only laughed at my indecision before I went back to deciding. Really the question here was, what was the likely hood that it would be something boring? There was no question in my mind that Vlad was just trying to get me to willingly spend more time with him. Oddly the conviction didn't make me uncomfortable anymore. Nope, that's not what I was uncertain about. I just really didn't want to be bored out of my mind with paperwork.

Well I mean what was the chance I would be bored anyway? This was _Vlad_ we were talking about. Things couldn't really get that boring when he was around. It couldn't be that bad if he was just having me sort his files for work with him. We'd probably just tease each other for an hour before Vlad deemed it was time for bed. It was even a possibility that we wouldn't be sorting anything for work anyway and he was just trying to make me think that. Rule number one of fruitloop engagement: Things are NEVER what they seem.

I sighed again in defeat. Fine, he won this round. I would walk into his little trap. I just really hoped that this wasn't going to be too painful.

"Fine Vlad you got me. I'll help you with these so called 'files'." Vlad lit up like a Christmas tree with my answer.

"Well chosen Daniel, well chosen indeed." I just rolled my eyes.

"Yeah I hope so. And who uses the word 'indeed' anymore?"

* * *

"Daniel?" I snapped out of it to look at Vlad who was sitting at a table in front three very large TV screens. They were positioned so that it looked something like an open menu. He had pulled up an extra chair for me and was gesturing for me to sit down. I distractedly complied and turned my attention back to the screen. The room we were in was a room connected to Vlad's 'Secret' Lab. I had been surprised at first when it had been clear Vlad intended to take me though his Secret Lab to get to this room; but I got over it. I mean, we weren't there for long, and it wasn't like there was anything down there that I wasn't supposed to see. I just was caught off guard by how casually he let me in. Anyway, the room we were currently in was dark so that the only light was coming from the screens in front of us.

I was basked in a red glow as Vlad opened the program with his ecto-energy like I did with my laptop. The screen remained red when the program opened, but the title of the files we would be looking at was now displayed on the screen also in big, black, Times New Roman font.

_V. Plasmius' Ghost Files_

Well I really hadn't expected this. I knew to expect something different than what I expected but this was just flat out…unexpected.

A wireless keyboard and mouse had appeared out of seemingly nowhere while I was distracted and my attention was drawn to them when I heard Vlad move them aside to talk to me. I struggled to pay attention as Vlad spoke. Was he really going to show me this? I only ever even showed my friends the ghost files _I_ kept on a 'need to know' basis.

"Now that we are on the same side, I believe it is time I showed you these. I have been collecting information on every ghost that I have encountered for over eighteen years. I was under the impression that you kept something similar?" Vlad looked at me to see what I had to say. All I could really do was sit there with my mouth open for a moment before I could get my jaw to work. I mean really? Was he really going to show me these? I had only been at his house for like fourteen days.

"A-are you sure you want to show me these?" Vlad adopted a skeptical look on his face before he responded.

"Are you going to use any of this information against me?" I blinked and looked away for a moment before I looked back at Vlad. He hadn't changed his expression. I shifted my gaze to my hands. Was I? He had done a lot of really crappy stuff to me, but he'd also done a lot of really good things lately. I searched and couldn't find any part of me that I would use the information against Vlad. It was very clear _he_ didn't want to be enemies, and _I _didn't want to be enemies. We really weren't enemies; we had been on the same side now for a good two and a half weeks. I guess I had never really verbalized it before now. It had happened and I was conscious of it, I just didn't really think about it. Me and Vlad weren't enemies anymore. Vlad was on my side. Holy crap, that felt… good. I didn't have to fight Vlad anymore. My face was still blank but on the inside I was cheering. I didn't have to have my ass kicked by Vlad anymore! I gave a simple answer.

"No." Vlad nodded with conviction.

"Alright, then let's get started."Vlad moved the mouse to click on the title of the files it opened up a link to get to several other categories. Four were displayed for us to choose form on the middle screen. The other two screens on the sides were still blank.

"We'll have to go through all of these eventually to see 'who and what' you 'do and don't' know, but I doubt well get that far tonight. You may go ahead and pick the first type of ghost you would like to look at." Vlad slid the keyboard and mouse in front of me on the table. I briefly looked at them before I went back to considering my options: Allies, Foes, Neutrals, and Annoyances. The side of me that wanted a good laugh wanted to pick 'Annoyances'; just to see who he thought was an annoyance. I knew for sure the Dairy King would be in there. I was really just flat out curious about the 'Neutrals' category. There was the superhero side of me too, that wanted a good look at the 'Foes' so that I could be better prepared. Then there was the strategic side in me that wanted to look at the 'Allies' so I could build more good connections in the Ghost Zone. I never did seem to have enough of those. Ultimately the strategic side in me won out. I figured that that file would be the smallest anyway, and we didn't have a lot of time.

I clicked on the 'Allies' option and was brought to a list of links. To tell the truth it wasn't much different than how an iTunes playlist was set up. Instead of song titles, names were in their place, sorted in alphabetical order. Where a song's time might have been, a power level was. And instead of genera there was, from what I could tell, a two or three sentence summary of an obsession. And like any iTunes playlist there was a total number of 'allies' down at the bottom. I was surprised when I saw the number, 42. I honestly hadn't expected that he would have that many. I mean, this is _Plasmius_ we're talking about, not exactly the friendliest guy. Though I guess in context, it made sense. If Vlad was the 'bad guy', then he would be friends with other 'bad guys' right? It all made that much more sense when I recognized some of the names on the list.

_Acobet_

_Fright Knight_

_Ghost Writer_

_Mason Rylie_

_Reed Forte_

_Ryan Bowler and the Color Guardians_

_Sand Man_

_Skulker_

_Sue Taylor_

Great this was just great. Vlad was friends with probably all of my enemies. I wasn't sure how many of my friends he was enemies with either. I mean how many of my allies was he at odds with? This could be a problem, a very big problem.

I hit the back button at the top of the screen. I needed to see just how much information Vlad had on the ghosts that helped me on a regular basis. I really didn't quite know what I was going to do about what I found yet, but I didn't really care at the moment. There was some notion in the back of my head that was pushing me towards finding what Vlad knew about my friends; that maybe their safety could depend on it. I clicked on the 'Foes' link and quickly scanned the short list of 32 ghosts for names that I recognized. Immediately I picked out Dora and Frostbite near the top of the list. I scrolled down a little and found those were the only two on this list. I was surprised to see Spectra and Bertrand on the 'Foes' list but they were their too. Vortex caught me slightly off guard, but thinking back he and Vlad weren't exactly on the best of terms. I didn't see any other names I knew so I focused in on the ones that I did. I was pretty sure I already knew why Vlad was enemies with Frostbite, but I was unsure about Dora. I clicked on her link, intent on seeing why Vlad was at odds with one of my closer allies.

there was a looped slide show of pictures on the screen the furthest to my left. Every couple of seconds the picture would change between, Dora, her dragon form, and her army of knights. In the middle was all of the descriptions and powers and such, while on the screen farthest to the right were graphs and things I didn't understand. I started to read the things in the middle.

_Name: Princess Dorthia and the Knights of Aragon._

_Power Level: _

_Princess Dorthia's Human form; 2 (no threat)_

_Princess Dorthia's Dragon Form; 6 (respectable threat)_

_The Knights of Aragon; 2-3 (negligible)_

_Powers: Invisibility, Intangibility, Flight, Transforms into a dragon, Dragon form breath's fire._

_Encounters:_

_1) My encounter with Princess Dorthia was rather abrupt. I was exploring new territory in the Ghost Zone when I was approached by a fair young woman with blonde braids in medieval attire and a small band of warrior escorts. She curtsied rather politely and I returned a respectful bow. She then proceeded to introduce herself and asked if I was Plasmius. I responded that yes I was and she quickly became angry with my response. She declared to me and the warriors around her that if I was indeed an adversary of 'Sir Phantom', then I was not welcome on her territory. Her face became slightly distorted towards a more reptilian appearance. I calmly replied that I did not see the reason to be treated so hostility and that I would not take orders from any mere ghost. She quickly expanded into a Dragon and began her assault. For such a large being she moved rather quickly. Ultimately I won the encounter, returning the princess to her human form; however I myself had suffered some minor burns. As a matter of inconvenience I avoid the territory or do not approach it without repressing my ghost sense and becoming invisible._

Well that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It seemed like the only reason Vlad was at odds with Dora was because Vlad had been my enemy too. I wished Dora would have told me about this. She didn't need to make more enemies because of me; especially with ghosts more powerful than she was. I didn't want her to hurt herself like that for me. Though her loyalty made me thankful; I could always rely on her for back up if I ever needed it, and I had couple of times.

Vlad hadn't gotten all of Dora's powers either. She had a certain level of control over her kingdom. Aragon had been able to freeze time there and Dora shared that same power. Literally, what she said was law. Though that wasn't so much an important or offensive ability. I sighed and hit the back button. I could tell Dora that I wasn't enemies with Vlad anymore and that would solve that problem. I quickly found the last link I wanted to look at and clicked it. Again I was brought up to the same formatted file

_Name: Frostbite and the Far Frozen_

_Power Level:_

_Frostbite (alone): 5 ½ (acknowledgeable threat)_

_Far Frozen (together):7-8(reputable threat)_

_Powers: Invisibility, Intangibility, Crotokinesis, tolerance of extremely low temperatures_

_Encounters: I fist had the unfortunate experience of meeting these Yeti-people after an experience with Daniel and the Infi-map. I made the mistake of underestimating the power of these people and paid dearly for it by being frozen like a statue on the spot. I found myself unable to free myself with my powers. I was brought back to Amity Park by Daniel in one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I was then presented to the town as a statue. The only reason I was freed was because at night Daniel had found pity on me, apparently, and phased me out of my ice cocoon. However before I could reorient myself and get my hands on the boy he had gone. I later went to the Ghost Writer and did some research on these "People of the Far Frozen" I discovered that the reason I had been unable to free myself was because of the environment and ghosts I had been dealing with. The land of the Far Frozen for some reason, represses any and all heat based powers rendering any ghost such as myself, nearly defenseless. The ability to repress heat based powers extends to the yeti people who live there, in that they may encase a ghost in ice and it will not be able to free itself because of the properties of the ice in which they are encased. As much as I would dearly love to go and teach those people their place, I cannot. The power to render me defenseless prevents me from holding any sort of chance of defeating them. If I do however, run into any one of them outside of their home I will have my revenge. _

I sighed heavily. This really sucked. I already knew that Frostbite flat out hated Vlad. Whenever I went to the Far Frozen I was always offered a place to stay specifically as a refuge from Vlad. I refused every time though. I needed to go back to Amity Park to protect it. I really wasn't worried about convincing Frostbite to agree to a truce. He would pretty much do anything I said. I told them all the time that I appreciated the gratitude they had for stopping Ghost King, but I didn't deserve to be glorified like that. They ignored me and kept right on practically worshiping me anyway.

No the hard part was going to be getting _Vlad_ to agree to a truce with Frostbite. Vlad could be just as stubborn as me if not more, and from what I had read he didn't want to make amends any time soon. Vlad had seen that I had stopped reading and got my attention.

"Daniel?" I sighed again and dragged my hands down my face as I responded; this was going to really suck.

"Yeah?" Vlad paused a moment before he responded

"Daniel, I clearly knew this was going to be problem. It was part of the reason I brought you down here to show you this." I looked to Vlad to respond. His face was colored by the light that was given off by the screens in front of us.

"Okay that still doesn't change the fact that you want to rip the guts out of half of my friends. I don't want to tell them not to fight you though, if you are going to keep on trying to hurt them. They have a right to defend themselves." I watched Vlad for his reaction. He shifted into a more business like position and as he responded to me I could hear the negotiating quality in his voice.

"As you have already found I am allies with a great deal of _your_ enemies as well. I have already made sure that they and everyone else know not to lay a finger on you. I have not, however, asked _you_ not to hurt _them_ as of yet. I would like to make that proposition now. Your enemies already know that if they do hurt you they will pay dearly for it. I don't particularly care about the well being of my allies, but it is bad for my standing with them if you go and attack them when I have told them not to hurt you." I interrupted him exasperated with what he was suggesting.

"Vlad I am NEVER the one to start anything. It's your 'friends' that you should be worried about. I mean really? The only reason I'm enemies with anyone in the first place is because they threatened someone or attacked me first!" Vlad patiently put his hand up to stop my rant. I considered for a fleeting moment ignoring him, but the thought quickly passed. I let out the breath I had taken in which prompted Vlad to start.

"Daniel, calm down. I am very well aware you wouldn't ever be the antagonist; it just isn't in you. However the question had to be asked; for in return for your pledge not to attack any of my allies, I will agree not to attack any of yours." I quickly opened my mouth to argue back before I realized what he had said. He was going to agree to a truce if I said I would agree to one too? That was different.

I looked back to Vlad to see if he was serious. He just stared back at me and gave absolutely nothing of what he was actually thinking away. Typical.

I sighed and went back to thinking. Really it seemed like a straight forward decision. I mean I was _never_ the one to start the fights, so it wouldn't be a problem; not attacking Vlad's 'allies'. There was something in my gut though that was telling me not to agree, and it was that little feeling that was making me hesitant. Would I be giving up any rights to defend myself if I agreed to this? Just what exactly did this mean for me? I looked at Vlad and asked what was on my mind.

"If I say 'yes', will I still be able to defend myself without consequences? What if _they_ attack first? I still need to be able to defend myself without you to worry about when I get back." I smirk crept onto Vlad's face as he responded. It was made slightly creepier than usual by the red light form the screen.

"Of course dear boy; that would be a given." I waited a moment to see if he had anything else to say, but that was it. I went back to thinking briefly. The feeling in my stomach lessened slightly but I still felt like there were a few loopholes I was missing. I wasn't going to agree to anything until I was sure it was safe. These were my friends I was talking about and I didn't want anything that might backfire to get past me. I perked up with a skeptical look as a thought hit me.

"What about my friends who aren't on your enemy list? Are you going to attack them, or does this deal just cover the ghosts you think are 'worthy enough to fight you'?" Once again that smirk crept onto Vlad's face only wider.

"Unless you would like to specify otherwise; no. I was not referring to extending my truce to anyone outside of my enemies list." I frowned and crossed my arms.

"I'm not agreeing to anything unless my 'less powerful' allies get the benefit of this as well. Just because you don't think as highly of them doesn't mean that I value them any less." Vlad nodded understandably, like he expected my objection.

"Very well then; I think it would be fit to compose a list of ghosts that you would like to include in this agreement and I shall do the same." Vlad scooted back in his chair slightly to open a drawer I didn't know was there. He pulled out two pens and a pad of paper. Efficiently he ripped a page off of the pad for himself and handed the pad to me. He quickly went to work in writing down names. I rolled my eyes; he _would_ have all the ghosts he wanted in mind already. It was going to take me more time to get my list. I sighed and readjusted so that I was hunched over the paper that now sat in front of me. Well there were three I already knew for sure that I wanted to include.

_Dora_

_Wulf_

_Frostbite_

…

I tapped my pencil on the table in front of me with little clicks. The other name that immediately came to my mind was Clockwork, but I wasn't going to write him down, obviously. I wasn't even sure I wanted Vlad to know about Clockwork yet. If there was one thing about Clockwork that I had figured out it was that he liked his privacy and remaining a mystery. He didn't mind _my_ company apparently. I had tried several times to get away quickly when I needed some advice, thinking that he wanted to be left alone, but he always seemed to keep me around. He always left just enough time to get back to wherever I needed to be without something happening. He was almost like one of those friends who never want to hang up the phone.

But all that was beside the point. I couldn't put Clockwork down and that was all I really needed to know. Who else was I 'friends' with? Well really more specifically, who didn't I want Vlad attacking? A couple more names popped into my head.

_Cujo_

_Pandora_

…

I still felt like I was missing some people. I was on a truce with a few ghosts I might as well put them down too.

_Amorpho_

_Johnny 13_

_Kitty_

…

I felt like that was it. I really couldn't think of anyone else that I was on good terms with. Really I thought the list was a pretty good length, compared to how I started out two years ago. I had had _no _friends in the Ghost Zone then. I looked up at Vlad to see if he was done, only to find him watching me intently. I shook off the weird feeling that came with that and slid my paper over to him while he slid me mine. He spoke as he did so.

"This isn't a complete list of my allies; however I do believe that consists of the ghosts that you are familiar with." I took the list and looked at the five or so names.

_Skulker_

_Technus_

_Walker_

_Undergrowth_

_Ghost Writer_

_Fright Knight_

With one look at who he had written down that uneasy feeling was back in the bottom of my stomach like it had lived there my entire life. I couldn't shake the feeling that if I agreed to this I would be defenseless. What did I have to guarantee that I would be safe; Vlad's word? What if I needed to attack one of these ghosts because they had done something that I needed to fix? I still wasn't sure. Vlad must have seen the indecision on my face because I hadn't been uncertain for long before Vlad said something about it.

"Daniel," I looked to Vlad, wary of the slightly exasperated tone in his voice, "you are not going to need to attack any of those beings as long as you are with me. I have them under agreement not to so much as touch you _without_ your cooperation. This deal will only put me in better standings with who I associate with. That is it's only purpose." He 'distractedly' (Vlad was never distracted, that much I knew; but he could act that way) went to look over the list I had made, cutting off whatever I might have to say. Fine whatever, I guess this was going to be another one of those 'trust' things. Vlad got my attention as he looked back to me inquisitively.

"Now, I do believe I am unfamiliar with two of these beings that you have written down. Just who are Cujo and Amorpho?" My eyebrows shot open at the news. Really? Well I guess when you think about it, it makes sense. Amorpho likes to cause trouble but not anything major. And anything involving Vlad is always big, so it makes sense that Amorpho would steer clear.

Cujo is very picky about who he does and doesn't like too. He tends to stay away from ghosts with a ton of power and who he knows could hurt him. Except for me I guess. He really likes me for some reason. I opened my mouth to answer Vlad.

"Well, um. Cujo is a dog. Most of the time he's a puppy but if he feels threatened he turns into a giant, rabid guard dog. "Vlad's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he smirked in amusement. Confused about his reaction, I asked."What?" Vlad just shook his head.

"Nothing dear boy, at least nothing you would be able to understand without me going to great lengths to explain. Please continue." I just raised my eyebrows in return and did as Vlad suggested.

"Okay, well um. Cujo is a good dog, he's really well trained when you can get him to listen to you, and he really likes me for some reason." I watched Vlad for anymore weird reactions and he only patiently waited. "Amorpho kind of a grey blob and doesn't have a face. He's a shape shifter and he likes to cause trouble." Vlad gave me a surprised look after I said this and I quickly went on explaining further. "I mean not the huge 'take over the world' kind of trouble, but he likes to pull pranks and stuff. Anyway we are kind of on an agreement that he won't bother me, and I won't bother him. So I think it would be good if you didn't bother him either if were swapping allies." Vlad nodded more in understanding and added his word.

"Alright those sound reasonable enough. With that explanation, I believe we have an agreement. You will not attack Skulker, Technus, Walker, Undergrowth, The Ghost Writer, or the Fright Knight, and I will not attack Dorthia, Wulf, Frostbite, Pandora, Cujo, Amorpho, Jonathan, and Katharine." I mentally ticked off the names in my head but got confused at the last two.

"Wait who?" Vlad sighed, and as if it were paining him greatly he responded.

"_Johnny 13 and Kitty._" I just gave him another skeptical look as I nodded.

"Alright Vlad, Whatever… I guess." I wonder if he called them that to their faces. That would be fun to see, Johnny would probably explode. My attention as drawn to Vlad again as he took the legal pad from me and put it back in the drawer with the pens. His voice held a tone of finality.

"Alright then, it's setteled. I have to say that went much smoother than I expected." I just stared at him as he got up from his chair. That was all he wanted to do?

"Wait, we haven't even agreed to anything yet." Vlad looked at me like I was missing something obvious.

"Yes, Daniel, we have. We just established and made clear who we will and will not be at odds with anymore for the others behalf. There is nothing left to do." Yes there was. At least that's what it felt like. I needed to sign something, or take some kind of oath. I mean I guess this just didn't seem like something we could 'agree' to. It was like ending a war with just a mutual understanding; it didn't feel right. There needed to be something more. Out of impulse and the need to make this official I stood up in front of Vlad and stuck out my hand. Vlad only starred at my out stretched limb for a minute and then at me when I didn't put my hand down. He didn't hide a chuckle.

"You can't seriously be proposing we 'shake' on the matter?" I faltered for only a millisecond under the ridicule before I got slightly angry at Vlad for thinking it was a stupid idea.

"Well do agree not to hurt my friends or not?" Vlad only shook his head.

"Daniel, this is quite unnecessary."

"Yes it is! What am I just supposed to walk away without any guarantees or anything? I need _something_ Vlad." Vlad only continued to act like he thought I was being ridiculous.

"You realize that a hand-shake is barely above just my word on its own. It means absolutely nothing." I didn't say anything, because he was right, it didn't really mean anything. You couldn't take out a hand shake and read the fine print to determine that you had agreed to something. But I didn't have time to write a contract and I had already humiliated myself by suggesting it in the first place so I was going to go through with it. The only way I was agreeing to anything was if Vlad shook my hand. After what seemed like a very long silence my stubbornness paid off... Sort of.

"I give you my word." Vlad only lightly shook my hand up and down while rolling his eyes. What the heck was that supposed to be? It didn't sound like he was sincere in anything. Before Vlad could slip out of my grip and move away I re-grabbed his hand so that he couldn't go. I recognized I was starting to grate on his nerves when he started to sound annoyed.

"Daniel, I participated in your pointless ritual, now stop acting like a child and let me go." I scoffed at what he had said.

"Hardly! You didn't even look me in the eye. How am I supposed to believe that you'll keep your word if you can't even give me a simple hand shake on it?" I could have sworn I saw a smirk flit over Vlad's face before he was back to grumbling about what I was asking him to do.

"Fine." I loosened my grip so it was comfortable when Vlad moved back to directly in front of me. He dramatically squared his shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. The only problem was; his eyes told me he still thought this was a joke. As soon as he started to talk like he was acting extra serious to appease me I lost it.

"I give you m-"

"This isn't that hard Vlad! Be serious for like three seconds!" I stared back at Vlad genuinely pissed off. I wasn't a kid who didn't know any better and I didn't deserve to be treated like one. I wasn't going to let Vlad think that I was some sort of baby and that this was the equivalent of some sort of 'pinky swear'. I didn't want to be 'appeased' I wanted him to look me seriously in the eye and give me his word that he wouldn't hurt my friends! It wasn't that complicated!

I sighed in defeat and let my head fall. Whatever, it wasn't worth it. I realized I had been giving Vlad a death grip and tried to let go. I wasn't going to stand here and look like an idiot. Vlad was now the one who wouldn't let me leave. I looked back up to Vlad curiously. Every trace of humor and annoyance was gone from his face. He was completely serious as he looked me straight in the eye.

"Daniel, I give you my word that I will not attack the allies you specified." I stared at Vlad for a minute before I got my jaw to work. I searched his eyes for any hint of doubt and found none, he was completely honest. A weight seemed to lift from the bottom of my stomach.

"And I give you my word that I won't attack any of the allies _you_ specified." Vlad nodded slightly without taking his eyes away from mine. As if we were synchronized our hands moved up and down once before we let go. After our hands broke apart it was made apparent how quite the room was. Vlad coughed lightly to break the silence.

"Well now that that is done with I believe it is time we both retire to our rooms. It has been a rather long day." I mindlessly nodded and followed Vlad out of the room we were currently in and into the main room of his 'secret lab'. As we passed the very heavily locked and secured ghost portal I remembered something we hadn't gone over yet.

"So I think Saturday I'll go into the Ghost Zone to get things with my allies settled if I don't have too much homework." I nearly slammed into Vlad's back when he stopped dead in his tracks.


	29. Chapter 29: Insert Evil Laugh Here

AN:/ Hey! the update is a little later than I would have liked, but i'm honestly losing momentum as far as writing this story goes. It's getting harder and harder to force myself to sit down and write the chapter. Which is really sad because I haven't even gotten to the exciting twisty parts yet! This chapter I think is a nice small intermission from all the Vlad Danny stuff. And it get's you ready for what i'm going to have go down at school. It's not long, but i think it's kind of important anyway. Plus i like to keep things chronological.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 29: (Insert Evil Laugh Here)

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 12:26AM_

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**IMPORTANT: **This takes place after Danny has run into Vlad in the previous chapter. I don't make reference to what Danny thinks about that in this chapter so you don't exactly know when this happens. And I didn't feel like working the time this took place into it. Therefore I have to tell you. So this is before the Saturday Danny was talking about in the previous chapter, but after "friend or foe i don't quite know". Cool? Cool. Oh and Danny is at school.  
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**Danny's POV.**

I was so sick of school. It was _all _I ever did anymore. I was actually thankful now, that Vlad had signed me up for fencing because it was the one class I could look forward to during the day that didn't involve my laptop. I stared at the screen and struggled to focus on the problems of anti- ions I was supposed to be filling out. We had the rest of the hour in chemistry to work. I was the only one working though. Everyone else was 'doing it at home'; which meant that they were hiring someone to do it for them on the sly. I didn't know what they were going to do when a big test or the exam rolled around. They obviously were learning _some _stuff, because everybody participated in class discussions, but they couldn't have been learning everything they would need to know for a test.

I wasn't going to hire anyone to do anything for me though. Besides the fact that that was cheating and I would _never _cheat; especially after well you know… The point is, this is another matter of 'being better'. If I cut corners like everyone else, then I'm never going to get ahead. I've been in the real world, unlike these spoiled brats, and the way they do things is going to come back to bite them, very painfully.

It's not even like the work we were being given was that hard to get done, once you understood it. Though I guess a big part in that too, was that I had a better computer than everyone else. This freaking thing was amazing. I barely had to tell it to do anything. It was like it had memorized my schedule and operated accordingly. I had all of the resources I could ever want at my fingertips. No more of this aimlessly searching the internet. I always had what I needed in an instant. It was like the computer knew what the assignment was and knew specifically what I wanted. Though there was the spell check; that was kind of annoying. It did have an auto correct feature, like most other computers. But instead of letting you continue to type past the error it made you go back and re-type it the correct way before it would let you move on. I had tried to turn the feature off but whenever I tried I got this message.

_Daniel, the feature is there to improve your typing. If you continue to make the same mistakes and expect them to be fixed for you, you are never going to improve. It's for your own good, you can't turn it off._

Whatever, fruitloop. I guess it was small price to pay. It's gonna sound weird, but having this computer was almost like having an electronic Vlad at school with me. With all of these weird messages I kept getting from him, it might as well have been. It was a symbol too, I guess, that Vlad cared about me. He had obviously put time and effort into it and nobody else had anything like it. I don't know, it made me feel special I guess. Shut up, I know that sounds corny but it's true. I don't know what I would do if I ever broke it or it got lost; probably have a conniption.

The bell rang, signaling me to put my computer to sleep so I could get to my next class. Though, once again, I really didn't need to do anything as the computer had heard the bell and automatically became dark with a message in the middle that asked me if I wanted to let it fall asleep. I clicked 'yes' and picked my brief case up off the floor so I could put it inside to be easier to carry to my next class.

* * *

**Third person.**

It was lunch time and Bill Ford was sitting in his private dining room with a few select friends. Well if you really wanted to call them friends. Really they didn't serve the function of a friend, they were more like co-workers or acquaintances with similar interests. Either way the only reason they might fall under the category of friends was because they could speak freely amongst each other and not be ousted from the group because of their opinions; if only because each and every one of them was a valuable resource that none of them could afford to lose.

"Do any of you have anything new we could use today?" Bill chased a small grape tomato that had been in his salad around the bowl with his fork. He didn't really expect anything, but it had become a habit that he ask; ever since Masters' son had decided that he was better than everyone else.

"If you mean new as in something completely irrelevant that would never mean anything then sure. I've got loads of new things." Ellyn Gates was quick to make a sarcastic remark. On the matter of boys and their battle to be the alpha male, she wasn't very concerned. Bill clenched his fork before he relaxed and looked up to Ellyn who was redoing her waist length blond hair in a tight bun on the top of her head.

"Ellyn, I don't need your teasing today. I'm not in the mood." Ellyn only daintily scoffed.

"You're never in the mood Bill." Bill was about to lose it with Ellyn's flippant behavior. Adrian, recognizing that, changed the subject.

"Bill it's only been what, a week and half? He never initiates conversation and he eats in a fifteen person dining room by himself. Other than being a hermit he's harmless. We've already agreed he's going nowhere. Just leave him alone." Adrian had only made Bill more indignant with what he had said.

"No Adrian, we can't just leave him alone. Do you want to know why we can't just leave him alone?"

"Because he's a threat to what we stand for as the future corporate owners of America. We know Bill, but what exactly is he doing that is so threatening?" Cem Kent (Son of the CEO of Coca Cola.) finished Bill's statement; having heard it one too many times before now. Cem really didn't understand why Bill was so adamant about getting back at Dan. He had met Dan and he thought he was a pretty decent guy. Bill's face became red as he saw that even Emma Conant (Daughter of the CEO of Cambell's Soup.) was showing confusion on what he was so up-in-arms about. Bill laid his fisted hands on the table as he sat straight up and raised his voice slightly.

"Do none of you understand what this means for us?" The three of them just sat and stared blankly back at Bill. Bill sighed in frustration before he continued. "Dan Masters is a threat to us, our status', or our integrity in this school and ultimately the world. We can't let some new suburban kid walk around like he belongs here. If we did, we would have nothing. Why do we have the most connections? Why is it that we get what we want while other people don't?" Emma was the only one to reply.

"Because we've fought our way to the top and we know how to handle money better than anybody else." Bill nodded.

"Exactly. Don't you see what Masters is doing? Can't you see how he is screwing with all of that? Everyone thinks that just because he is the son of the richest man on the planet that he is automatically, by association, the best. Even after his first day here when he clearly showed us otherwise. He didn't have to prove himself like we did; he didn't go through what went through to get to the top. Everyone is giving him a free ride and we are the only ones who see it." Bill made eye contact with everyone before he continued in a lower tone of voice. "we are the only ones who can make sure that this hick from nowhere doesn't get to enjoy what we've got without proving he's worthy of it first." Everyone had a slightly evil smirk on their faces despite themselves. Even Ellyn, who would normally deem the squabbling of teenage boys below her, was enticed by Bills ideals. No, this was something much bigger. This was something that she, that all of them, could sink their teeth into.

"So," Ellyn nonchalantly picked the back of her nails, "how do you suppose we go about this then?"


	30. Chapter 30: Okay, Let's Not Take Out the

AN:/ Holy friggin' crap this is a longer one. And before you get to the bottom, no I am not just going to do Cujo and Frostbite. I just didn't feel like writing a 20,000 word chapter, okay? I think that is completley fine with you. If it isn't, well then suck it up and grow a pair. You know what , Pearl just updated and i resisted stopping my writing to go read that so I could get this chapter out tonight. Aren't I generous? In this one there are points where people seem OOC to me, but that's just me. And if you go back and re-read chapter 28, it seems like i kept more in character with how Danny says characters are. Whatever. wow i'm really bitchy tonight, sorry about that. Gezze. I'm gonna go take a chill pill now.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 30: Okay, Let's Not Take Out the Middle Man

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 12:44AM_

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Danny's POV

"Vlad calm down I've got weapons _built-in_ for Pete's sake. I'm not defenseless!" Vlad only shot me a glare as he strapped yet another gun holster on my back and placed a weapon in it for me to carry. I was starting to feel like a pack mule… or Rambo, take your pick.

"Daniel, I'm not sure if you're aware, but you have an entire dimension out for your head because of this 'Superhero role' you insist on taking. Not only that, but we are going to be venturing into said dimension where you are going to be making yourself an easier target." I just sighed as Vlad tightened the straps that held all of the guns on my back chest and hips. It was useless to argue with him about this. I had already said that if anything these 'extra precautions' were going to make me more vulnerable. One of the main tools that I used in my ghost fights was my agility. It was something I had that very few others did. With all of these weapons it was going to be that much harder to maneuver around if we ran into anything. I guess I should just be grateful I was even getting the opportunity to go into the Ghost Zone. Vlad had not been at all thrilled when I had mentioned the prospect.

_"So I think Saturday I'll go into the Ghost Zone to get things with my allies settled if I don't have too much homework." I nearly slammed into Vlad's back when he stopped dead in his tracks._

"_What did you just say?" I backed up slightly so I wasn't stepping on Vlad's toes before I answered with a hand on the back of my neck._

"_I was going to go into the Ghost Zone on Friday."_

"_No." I had barely been able to finish my sentence before Vlad shot my suggestion down. Without an explanation Vlad turned around and continued out of the lab. He couldn't just say 'no' like that. I mean if he didn't even have a reason, then he was being unfair._

"_Vlad you have to-"_

"_No." I furrowed my brows in slight frustration. He didn't even look at me; and he clearly wasn't even considering what I had to say._

"_Vlad list-"_

"_No."_

"_But you can't just-"_

"_I said no Daniel and that's my final answer." _

It had taken a solid hour and a half to convince him that I wasn't going to die if I set foot, or urm I guess 'tail', inside the Ghost Zone. Though he was still very reluctant about me going in. He had eventually agreed, but not without certain 'stipulations'.

He was going to come with me

I had to be in his sight at all times

I had to hide if we were attacked and let him do the fighting

I would do whatever it was that he thought he had to do to keep me 'safe'

Which brings us back to the small arsenal that Vlad had just finished strapping on every available area of my body. Vlad pulled back and smiled in satisfaction. I held my arms out like a kid whose mom had just put every available piece of winter clothing on them before letting them out to play. I gently put my arms down and tried not to accidentally fire any guns while doing so. Finally 'ready to go', I took a step towards the portal.

"Okay, can we-" I was abruptly cut off as Vlad appeared in front of me a frown now on his face.

"I will be going in first Daniel; to see if it is safe. I'll come back to get you when I see everything is alright." I slumped and whined; all of the equipment I was wearing clinking together as I did so.

"Vlad, for the last time I'm going to be fine! I'm not a baby!" Vlad only gave me a stony glare with his pupil-less red eyes. I couldn't prevent the Goosebumps that rose on my arms. Sure I could probably stand up to a good glare from him when he was in his human form, but his ghost side was a whole other can of worms. I took a few steps back with my hands up in defense.

"Fine Fine, I'll wait here. Okay?" I tried to look Vlad in the eye to show him that I was going to stay. Vlad nodded contently before he relaxed out of his tense pose slightly.

"I'll be back in less than a few seconds Daniel." I nodded as Vlad disappeared into the green swirls. I sighed and rolled my eyes as soon as he was gone. He was being so ridiculous.

"The coast is clear Daniel, you may come through." I jumped in surprise; all of the metal attached to me currently mimicked my movement with little chinks and clicks. I guess he really meant it when he said seconds. I eagerly took a few steps forward before I hovered a few inches off the ground and flew through the portal. I had made the mistake one too many times of just trying to walk through and finding no ground on the other side.

I couldn't help the smile that came on my face when I was finally in the swirling green atmosphere. If I was ever really tired and still needed to do homework, I went to the Ghost Zone to try to do it. There was something about the air here that always made me feel more awake; more fresh I guess. The best comparison I could think of was it was like brushing your teeth after a long day of talking constantly.

"Daniel." I blinked once before I turned to Vlad. He was 'standing' not three feet from me and watching me with interest. He continued talking when he saw he had my attention. "I would rather not spend unnecessary time here. We should get moving." I held down my embarrassment at being looked at so closely and nodded. I had already thought about how I was going to do this before now. So all I had to do was put the plan into action. I opened my mouth to gain Vlad's attention.  
"Okay you're going to meet Cujo first." At this I got a raised eyebrow, but ignored it. "He will be able to lead us to Frostbite from here while avoiding everyone that I'm not exactly on good terms with. He knows what, who I like and who I don't like, smell like and will be able to get us there without any mishaps." I paused and watched Vlad as I spoke next. "From Frostbite's we'll just use the Infi-Map to get everywhere else." I looked very carefully for Vlad's reaction to that information. He didn't give anything away and seemed completely indifferent. He currently only seemed 'confused' as to what I was studying him for. I wasn't buying his little 'innocent' act. I knew that he was thinking at least _something_.

"Vlad, can you please not do whatever you have planned?" Vlad's left eyebrow shot up skeptically and he almost laughed as he responded.

"And what do I have planned, dear boy?" I sighed and shook my head.

"I don't know what you were going to do Vlad, but I'm sure whatever evil scheme you're planning isn't going to make Frostbite too happy with you or me; especially if I tell him that you are a friend now and you betray his and my trust." Vlad only chuckled lightly before he replied.

"Daniel, I'm not going to do anything involving the map. In case you've forgotten the map itself seems to have a grudge against me as well. What could I do with it; even if I wanted?" I only continued to stare before I sighed and gave up. I had tried.

"Vlad I'm just warning you okay? If you do something to hurt me or Frostbite, even if it's an accident, after he learns that we've become allies, he won't hold back. Whatever it is, it's not a good idea." Vlad just sighed in annoyance and nodded, like he was going to take my advice. I knew better though, he was still planning something. Maybe it wasn't against me this time, but it was still something. Whatever, I guess I would have to cross that bridge when we got there, but right now,

"Okay Vlad here's how this is going to go down." I had Vlad's attention again as I got back to business. "I am going to whistle for Cujo. Cujo is like me, in that he can sense energy signatures, the difference is that he is about ten times more sensitive than I am. He generally doesn't like energy signatures that are stronger than he is and won't go near them. The only time he does come near them is when I whistle for him and he can sense that_ I_ am near one. In which case he will come in attack mode and attack whomever is in the vicinity that I am 'fighting with'. If I called him right now without you doing anything, he would tackle you." Vlad nodded in understanding.

"Alright, so I suppress my ghost signature while Cujo gets here." I nodded and continued.

"And keep it covered until we can show him that you're not a threat alright? Cujo is _very_ protective. He was a guard dog, after all." Vlad politely agreed. I could feel Vlad suppressing his ghost signature, but I waited for him to tell me it was alright anyway.

"Alright Daniel, my ghost signature is suppressed go ahead." I bobbed my head once to show him that I had heard him as I determined the direction the Fenton portal would be in from here. I positioned myself to aim my whistle in that direction. Cujo liked to hang around there most of the time. I started to breath in when I remembered something.

"Yeah, and Vlad you're going to want to cover your ears." Vlad nodded and clamped his hands tightly on his head. I could almost see the memories of when I had shown him my Ghostly Wail in the field flash beneath his eyes. I denied myself a private laugh however, and got to business. I took in a giant breath and brought my pinkies up to my mouth.

"!"

I made it as loud and high pitched as I could so it would travel further and Cujo would hear it. I hoped he wasn't too far away. He always had this weird knack of being in the same area as me. I brought my fingers down and looked to Vlad so that he knew it was okay to uncover his ears. He still seemed a bit disoriented, but he would snap out of it soon enough. I patiently waited a few seconds and listened for any happy yipping. I looked around anxiously, hoping to see the little dog, but he was nowhere to be found. A whole three minutes dragged by before Vlad finally said something.

"As loud as you were, I don't believe the dog heard you dear boy. Perhaps you should try again?" I looked back to Vlad hesitantly and nodded slowly.

"Alright, I think that would be good, if he doesn't come the second time though we'll just get to Frostbite's on our own and take our chances." Vlad frowned but nodded solemnly with my affirmation. Vlad, without me telling him to do so, covered his ears as I sucked in air. I was about to let loose when a small green puppy appeared and yipped a small ways in front of me. I let out the air I had collected in a heavy breath.

"CuJO!" I had only gotten half way through his name before he was on top of me and assaulting my face with kisses. Just as quickly Cujo was knocked aside. The tiny puppy let out a pained yelp and skidded to a stop a few feet away. Assuming the worst I quickly looked up to find Vlad holding a smoking fist. Crap, Vlad did _not_ just mistake Cujo's over-friendly-ness as an attack. From here things could only get worse.

"Vlad what did I say! Now Cujo is going to…" I found my predictions about Cujo were true as I trailed off due to the deep rumbling growl that was getting louder behind me. It was apparent that Vlad was hardly paying attention to me anyway, his eyes focused completely on the 'threat'. I could feel Vlad's energy signature flare as he watched Cujo swell to his full height of twelve feet (I've measured), obviously thinking this would let Cujo know to back off. I wanted to yell at Vlad that letting his energy signature flare was the _worst _thing he could have done, but I didn't want to spook Cujo either and make things worse.

In response to the flare in energy Cujo raised his heckles and growled, intermittently bearing his teeth. I could tell all Cujo was waiting for was a reason to pounce and I prayed to Clockwork that Vlad wouldn't give him that chance. Vlad narrowed his eyes at Cujo's antics and became very still before glancing briefly back to me.

That one little glance was the catalyst that set the next few seconds into motion. Cujo, unfortunately, saw Vlad glance to me and thought Vlad was targeting me. Immediately, Cujo tried to get in front of me to protect me; while Vlad thinking that Cujo was going to jump on me again was going to fire a blast at Cujo who was now moving towards me. By now all I could do was act on impulse, and when I saw Vlad get ready to attack I did the first thing that came to my mind, which was to get in between the two of them. I practically threw myself in the path of Vlad's blast.

"Wait a second!"

Vlad's eyes widened when he saw I was now in the path of his blast and it seemed like he had only just been able to recall it. Cujo was frustrated too, as he tried to get back in front of me. I quickly turned my head to give Cujo a command.

"Cujo stay!" Cujo whined between growling and shifted his weight in indecision. I lowered my voice and let my eyes flare slightly.

"Stay." At this Cujo stopped growling and fidgeting, though I could tell it was reluctantly. Now confidant that Cujo was under control I turned back to Vlad. He was not happy and he was going to let me know it.

"Daniel get away from that rabid monstrosity-" Vlad was interrupted by a loud booming bark. Cujo had heard the angry tone of Vlad's voice and was not going to stand for it. I reacted quickly and whipped around to get control of Cujo again before he could get in front of me.

"Cujo!" The dog lowered his heckles once more at seeing me angry; though he was insistent on remaining alert. I sighed and turned slowly back around to Vlad, who immediately tried to complain to me again.

"Dan-" I held up a hand, pleading Vlad silently with my eyes, to stop talking. He reluctantly shut his mouth. I sighed in frustration.

"Vlad I need you to suppress your ghost signature for this to go anywhere." Vlad only scoffed in response.

"Daniel clearly this creature is unstable. I'm not taking any risks. You will step out of the line of fire this instant!" It took every fiber of determination in me not to get angry.

"Vlad, the only reason Cujo is upset is because _you_ overreacted and attacked him. He isn't going to attack me. He wants to make sure I'm safe, just like you do. So far you have showed him that you are _not_ safe. You are probably putting me in more danger by not cooperating with me. Please just trust me for one minute." Vlad huffed before he very reluctantly did as I asked. Cujo whined in confusion tilting his head to one side when Vlad's signature disappeared, even though he could clearly see Vlad was still there. I sighed in relief when Cujo finally seemed to be more curious than hostile. Somewhat confidant that Vlad was going to take a chill pill for a minute I turned all of my attention to Cujo behind me.

"Cujo sit!" I made my voice happy and peppy slapping my hands on my thighs energetically. Cujo eagerly brought his attention back to me, not sensing a threat anymore. Without an ounce of hesitation the giant dog plopped his butt down and let his mouth hang open in a happy pant.

"Good boy! Now be small!" The giant dog let out a booming bark before he complied and happily shrunk to his puppy size. He then let out a happy yip, and with only the prompting of my open arms, jumped up to my chest. Almost mindlessly I caught the small dog and started scratching behind his ears.

"Yes you're a good puppy, aren't you?" Cujo only let out a happy yip before leaning his head into the hand I was using to scratch his ears. I chuckled lightly at Cujo's predictable behavior before I turned to deal with Vlad.

My happy demeanor fell instantly when I saw that Vlad was still wearing a scowl and eyeing the small puppy with extreme disdain. Cujo looked to Vlad also and got caught in his death glare. Cujo tried to shrink into my chest with a whimper.

"Vlad, seriously? He's a puppy! Would you lighten up?" Vlad scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Perhaps now, in three seconds he could be a giant out of control rabid monster." As if Cujo understood what Vlad had said, he lowered his ears and head, and stopped his tail from wagging. I could feel Cujo become a depressed weight in my arms as he exhaled heavily. I put on a fake sad face half trying not to laugh at Cujo's reaction to Vlad's scorn.

"Awe Vlad look at how sad you made him!" I looked down to the little puppy in my arms to cheer him up. "I don't think you're an out of control rabid monster." At this Cujo was back to his overexcited self and assaulted what he could reach of my face with kisses. I laughed and held the dog at arms' length before I was absolutely covered in slobber. "Well at least where it counts anyway." My attention was brought back to Vlad as he started to make his argument once more; obviously not buying into Cujo's puppy-ness so easily.

"Daniel, you have yet to demonstrate to me that you have this dog under control." I raised my eyebrow at Vlad skeptically. Did he see how I got Cujo to stop attacking? It was only _because _I had Cujo under control that they weren't battling it out right now. I let a smirk slide onto my face when I realized what exactly Vlad had requested.

"Hey if all you wanted was a demonstration then you should have said so. Stand back and be amazed!" I quickly went to a small island that was floating nearby, prompting Vlad to follow. I landed first before I set Cujo down. Stepping back like a circus performer I left Cujo to stand in the middle of the island while I went to stand back by Vlad. Cujo seemed to get extra excited as if he understood what was about to happen. "Ready Cujo!" the small puppy yipped in response. I looked to Vlad and saw he was ready too, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

"Alright, Cujo sit!" Cujo sat.

"Lay down." Cujo flopped completely to the floor so that the tips of his ears brushed the dirt.

"Hide." He put his paws over his eyes and tucked in his tail.

"Army crawl." He picked his head up off the ground and without getting up crawled forward.

"Roll over." Cujo quickly rolled over once to the right and then once to the left so that he was back where he started.

"Stand up." Without taking his eyes off of me he stood up with a happy bark.

"Reach for the sky." He stood on his back legs and pawed at the space above him.

"Hand stand." He landed back on all four feet before he pushed off his hind legs so now he was only standing on his front paws.

"Alright now walk forward." Cujo barked before he moved forward without coming down from his hands stand.

"Good boy!" Cujo came down from his hand stand and waited for more commands.

"Back up a little bit Cujo." The puppy quickly put it in reverse and was back to the center of the island.

"Point." Cujo became stock still and raised his front left paw to point at Vlad.

"Back flip." Cujo situated himself before he flipped himself through the air.

"Left circle." Cujo quickly completed a circle to the left of him.

"Right circle." He repeated the same thing only to the right.

"Speak." Cujo abruptly let out a hardy bark.

"Sing." He howled, adding a funny vibrato.

"Be scary." Cujo quickly swelled to his full height and menacingly bared his teeth and raising the hair on his back.

"Be cute." He shrank and sat perfectly with wide puppy dog eyes.

"Play dead." Cujo dramatically fell over with a whimper and a howl before he went completely limp.

"It's a miracle!" Cujo quickly sprung back to life and yipped excitedly. I laughed as I made my way to the center of the island to crouch by Cujo and give him a victory scratch. "So Vlad you still think Cujo isn't 'under control' or do you need more convincing?" I looked up to Vlad to see his reaction and was not disappointed. He was now struggling to hold up his 'angry' act as he watched the cute puppy pant happily under my stroking hand.

"Very well Daniel, I suppose you were correct. You do seem to have him well trained." Vlad came forward to give Cujo a complementary pat on the head. Cujo accepted it rather proudly and yipped at Vlad in thanks as he pulled his hand away. I smirked as I saw a small smile break over Vlad's face.

"Okay now that you two seem to be getting along, I think you can _slowly_ let up on your ghost signature." Vlad nodded as some of the seriousness of the situation returned. I turned to watch Cujo for his reaction as I felt Vlad's energy signature get stronger. Immediately Cujo cocked his head to the side in confusion and stared at Vlad. As the signature got stronger though Cujo seemed to become worried and moved away from Vlad slightly, until finally Vlad had his signature completely unrepressed and Cujo was hiding behind me in fear and uncertainty. I looked back to Vlad to see he had a troubled frown on his face before I turned back to Cujo.

"Common buddy Vlad isn't going to hurt you again. He's a friend, see?" I gave Vlad a look from my position crouched on the ground, hoping he would take his cue to do something 'friendly'. Lucky for me, Vlad was good at taking cues and crouched down so he was on the same level as Cujo; holding his hand palm up, inviting Cujo for a sniff.

"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." I rolled my eyes at the exasperated bored tone Vlad used and waited to see what the result would be. Cujo looked from behind my back, judging Vlad's outstretched hand. Slowly, skeptically, he stepped out from behind me; putting his nose as far before the rest of his body as he could as he approached. Cujo stopped midway and turned to look at me, I only nodded and reassured him towards his goal.

"Common Cujo, I know he smells bad, but he's not going to do anything." Vlad took his eyes off of Cujo to give me a hard glare. I only smirked and laughed lightly to myself.

It was when Cujo saw Vlad wasn't looking, and heard my laughter that he decided to give Vlad a sniff. Vlad's attention abruptly went back to the small puppy as Cujo nudged his hand with his nose. Finally Cujo seemed satisfied and pulled his head away to sit down and look back to me.

"That's a good boy Cujo! Aren't you a brave little puppy?" I ruffled the fur on his head and his mouth lolled open in delight. I had to hold back a giggle when another thought hit me.

"Cujo, now don't be rude. Introduce yourself properly and shake hands!" Cujo, being an obedient little ghost dog, looked at Vlad before he barked and offered up his right paw. Vlad could only stare at the small paw being offered to him before he did something that had me flat on my butt with laughter.

"Nice to meet you Cujo, I'm Vlad Plasmius." I didn't even hear Vlad try to justify himself or say that I was acting juvenile. The Vlad Masters had just formally introduced himself to a puppy! He was completely serious too!

There was only a short yip before there was a new weight on my chest and my face was covered in slobber. The whole saliva thing quickly snapping me out of my laughing fit.

"Oh dude, sick!" I quickly sat up and tried to get Cujo at an arms distance; phasing the slobber off of my head.

"I have to say that I'm growing quite fond of this dog Daniel." I didn't get the chance to respond as Cujo breached my defenses and within seconds had me covered in dog slobber again.

"Cujo, seriously!" Cujo only barked before he stopped trying to lick my face off and settled for sitting on top of my chest. I patiently picked Cujo off of my chest and set him next to me so I could stand up and brush myself off, which was hard, considering I still had all those guns strapped to me. I meticulously made sure everything was still fine, and that I didn't have any major spots of dirt anywhere.

"As much as I would love to continue to be a spectator in this situation, I believe if we are to get anything done today we must start moving." I nodded and looked around for Cujo who had wondered a short ways away. We really did need to get going. If the way Vlad meeting Cujo went was any indication, then we would need as much time as we could get. I spotted Cujo a few yards away digging a hole.

"Cujo, you wanna go on a trip buddy! You wanna play fetch!" Cujo perked up excitedly and bounded towards me and Vlad screeching to a halt and looking up expectantly.

"You've found Frostbite before, Cujo. Can you find him for me?" I made a small ice crystal and gave it to Cujo to sniff. For some reason he was always able to put together that when I showed him an ice crystal, it meant I was looking for Frostbite. Don't ask me why, he's a weird dog. Once Cujo was done examining the ice in my hand he yipped.

"Okay Cujo. Find Frostbite!" I pointed excitedly off into the distance and waited for Cujo to take off. Cujo obviously had no such plans as he sat there and continued to pant happily away.

"Daniel I don't think he quite understands you." I turned to glare at Vlad who had done very little to hide the amusement in his voice.

"Cujo fetch!"

Like a cannon Cujo took off with little to no warning. I was prepared for it so I was only a few yards behind. Vlad however…

"Daniel, wait!"

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"I do believe we're getting close Daniel." We passed another iceberg as we flew behind Cujo, who was still running at his top speed. Luckily his top speed wasn't anywhere near mine, or Vlad's, apparently.

As we got closer to the Far Frozen I could feel my ice powers become easier to call forward. It was another side effect the land had on ghosts, it enhanced ice powers while suppressing fire ones. Usually while I was anywhere else, if I just mindlessly called forward energy, it was my ecto energy; when I was in the Far Frozen though it was ice. Cujo suddenly barked and sprinted around a bigger sized ice berg that was blocking our view.

"I guess he thinks were getting close too." I was about to speed up slightly to keep Cujo in my sight when Vlad's arm reached out and stopped me from moving forward. I looked up at Vlad, frustrated and confused.

"Common Vlad, we're gonna lose Cujo if we don't hurry." I tried to move Vlad's arm out of the way but he wouldn't budge. He gave me a stern look.

"Daniel I don't think we'll need Cujo's assistance any further than this." Vlad nodded his head at the ice berg and it was then that I realized something was carved into the ice. I hadn't been able to tell at first because it blended well into the rest of the iceberg.

_Here belies the boarders of The Far Frozen._

_Enemies take heed. _

_Allies be welcomed._

I just looked at Vlad confused.

"Okay so we're here. What are you holding us back for?" Vlad sighed like he was losing his patience. His impatience with me got on my nerves a little bit because as far as I was concerned, _he_ was the one who was holding things up.

"Daniel, we can't just waltz in. This has to be handled with tact." I just stared at him like he was stupid. Wow, he was going to make this way more complicated than it had to be, wasn't he? I just blinked and turned my head slightly to the side as I replied.

"Yeah, Vlad, that's why we're going in _together._ They'll see me and they won't fire at you." Vlad shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Daniel it's not going to work like that. They're going to see me with you and think that I have you captive for ransom or some such nonsense." Okay yeah I could see his point, but he was worrying over nothing. I knew Frostbite better than he did.

"Vlad they aren't going to think that. Especially if I'm coming with you and I'm not tied up or anything. They've probably already seen Cujo and are wondering where I am. This isn't the first time I've been here Vlad. We're going to be fine" Vlad crossed his arms as he spoke next. Oh great here we go with the whole 'you must listen to me because I'm in charge' bit.

"No Daniel, what will most likely happen is that they will see me next to you, think that I am attacking you, and proceed to 'dispose of the threat'. I can't have you in the line of fire. I will be going in first to deal with this and you will come when it's safe." My mouth practically fell off of its hinges. Was it just me or was Vlad being really stupid right now?

"Vlad how is that supposed to work? Besides being untrue, if Frostbite did start attacking you, you would need me there to protect you. You don't have any of your offensive powers. How are you going to put up a defense? Go invisible? They can just go invisible too. You are going to confuse them by going out there after they've seen Cujo. You aren't going to get anywhere if you go first. Let me go-" Vlad started to get mad as I argued with him. I'm sorry but I was not letting him do something that stupid. I mean really? Where was the cunning strategist that usually whipped my butt? Apparently he was on vacation and no-strategic-sense Vlad was here subbing in. Vlad's eyes flared slightly as he replied to me.

"No, I refuse to let you out of my sight." I scoffed and put my hands on my hips; well where I could anyway. I was still covered in all of that crap Vlad was making me wear.

"Vlad, nothing is going to happen to me. I'm going to be on Frostbite's land. The safest way to do this is for me to go out first. There isn't any other way that makes sense. I'm not letting you go out there by yourself because you think it's not safe for me; especially when really, that is one of the safest places for me to be in the Ghost Zone. I'll be fine and this will work; you'll see. Just stay here." Before Vlad could tell me to stay I took off around the corner. Immediately Frostbite's main watch tower came into view. Vlad had to stay hidden now. If he came out now, it would look like he was chasing me. Vlad knew that, he was a smart guy and would figure that, right?

"DANIEL!" I guess not. That's the last time I give no-strategic-sense Vlad the benefit of the doubt. I had to stop and yell back at Vlad to try to get him to at least stay where he was. It was too late now. I had been in those watch towers; by now they've seen the both of us.

"Vlad what the hell are you doing!" Vlad halted for a minute before he kept coming towards me.

"Don't use that language with me. Now get behind me before you get hurt!" I looked quickly back to the main watch tower when I heard a low horn being blown. Crap, that meant that they had for sure seen Vlad, and they thought he was chasing me.

"Crap Vlad, now they think you're chasing me. Would you just let me handle this!" I glanced back to the watch tower again and could see lines of warriors already coming towards us. They didn't have very far to go before they were within striking distance; maybe 400 yards. "Just stay here while I explain everything!" I tried to take off again, seeing that they were readying their weapons. I needed to tell them what was going on before they tried anything. I closed the gap between us by about 200 yards before someone grabbed my arm.

"Vlad, let go!"

"Not until you are behind me. You're going to get hit." Vlad clung to my arm and had his eyes trained on the band of warriors closing in bellow. I went intangible, but Vlad sensed it in time and went intangible with me. My eyes unconsciously flared as the gravity of the situation started to weigh down on me.

"Vlad seriously, you need to let me go!" Vlad only positioned us so that I was behind him in the line of fire. He yelled at me even though I was right in his face.

"No, it's not safe!" I growled in frustration as I continued to try to tug away from Vlad. If he was holding onto me like this and they got within striking distance… I didn't really know what they would do. Finally with one last tug I was flung away from Vlad as I escaped his grasp.

"_Now" _

While I had been struggling with Vlad, the warriors had closed in the last hundred yards. They had all been trained on Vlad and had only been holding back because I was in the way. Now that I was out of the line of fire they let loose. There was no way that Vlad could do anything. If he tried to doge, there were more warriors who hadn't fired that would be ready for just such a move. Vlad was completely defenseless.

The only reason I was anywhere in time were because of one too many ghost fights.

I let out a battle cry as I flung myself back in front of Vlad, forming an ice shield about ten feet in front of us. I held it there as it grew in size; the ice energy that was hitting it was only absorbed and making it stronger. I slowly sunk to the ground, Vlad still behind me, as the shield became heavier and I couldn't hold it in the air anymore. Finally they stopped the assault and a giant block of ice the size of about five school busses separated us. I let out a heavy breath and before anything else could happen, I got in the first word.

"Would you guys stop attacking? He's here with me! I swear he's not doing anything!" I could hear a quite murmuring on the other side before there was a voice I recognized.

"We demand that the Great One be allowed forward to explain himself. Otherwise we will be forced to take further action in his defense." I sighed in relief. Frostbite was here. Everything was going to be okay in a couple of minutes.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight Daniel. I will be coming with you." I turned around to find Vlad was still there behind me; looking as stubborn as ever. My mouth hung open for a moment. Was he really still going to insist on that? _I_ had just saved _his_ butt and he still wanted to 'protect' me? I opened my mouth to argue but hesitated. The stony look in Vlad's eyes made me see that he wasn't going to negotiate, especially after what had just happened. No matter how much more sense my plan may have made, he wasn't going to see it. Arguing now would only mean that Frostbite would get more suspicious because of the yelling we would inevitably be doing. I let out a heavy sigh and slumped my shoulders.

"Fine, but you _have_ to let me go first. You heard what Frostbite said, either you stay behind me, or they attack you." Vlad's face was blank so that I couldn't see what he was really thinking. All I got in reply was a hesitant nod. I put on a weak grin and started to walk around the giant new formation of ice on the otherwise flat terrain.

"Good to see you Frostbite." I could see Frostbite was about to reply when all of the sudden he and those around him raised their weapons to their shoulders all pointed directly at…

I positioned myself more in front of Vlad who had just made himself visible. "Guys cool it with the weapons! I already told you he's with me." Frostbite didn't let up on his glare at Vlad as he responded to me.

"Great One, you mean to tell me that you have come here together with one of your greatest adversaries as allies? How can we be assured that Plasmius is not merely manipulating you for some sort of trick?" I heard Vlad scoff behind me which caused all of the warriors present to retighten their grip on their weapons. I sent a fleeting glare to Vlad, before I turned pleading eyes back to Frostbite.

"Frostbite, come on. Do I look like I'm being controlled? He didn't even want to be here, the only reason he's here is because he wouldn't let me come into the Ghost Zone by myself. And can you please put the weapons down! They're kind of pointed at me too!" Frostbite looked into my eyes for a moment before he put his hand up to give the signal to his men to lower their weapons. I could tell the movement had caused Vlad behind me to tense. All of the warriors were hesitant but obeyed. I sighed.

"Thank you." Frostbite nodded solemnly before he spoke.

"I am still wary of your predicament Great One. I cannot say that I feel safe allowing your 'friend' into my village at present." I groaned and threw my hands up in the air; the stress of the situation throwing me overboard.

"Frostbite what more do you want me to do? I jumped in front of you guys to prevent him from getting hit. I'm keeping you guys from hurting him now. He's clearly not trying to hurt me. " I marched back a few feet to Vlad and abruptly shook his hand. "Look, see we're friends now sharing a friendly handshake. What more do you want us to do; hold hands and sing Kum-bi-ah?" my arms fell to my side as I let go of Vlad and looked back to Frostbite. My face softened when I saw that in my anger I had made Frostbite and his men upset and guilty. Before I could apologize though, Frostbite spoke.

"Great One, we do not question your word on most matters, as we know you are a just a noble being. You have yet however to provide us with a reason for such a dramatic change in alliances. I am made wary by the abruptness of the change and the type of beings involved. I have a village to look out for and I don't want any threats brought inside, if I can prevent it." I let my shoulders slouch. Okay, yeah I could see why Frostbite was being cautious. He tended to be a pretty cautious guy in the first place. I'd be suspicious too, if I were in his position. I guess I knew too, somewhere, that I was going to have to explain myself to at least Frostbite. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder and heard Frostbites men shift around uncertainly in response. I looked up to find Vlad's concerned face.

"Daniel, you don't have to go through with this. We can turn around and leave." I shook my head over the murmurs of Frostbite's warriors and lightly pushed Vlad's hand off of my shoulder.

"No, I can do this. It's fine. After all he's done for me he deserves to know." I locked eyes with Frostbite and walked forward a few yards to be within comfortable talking distance. Everyone was absolutely silent as they waited for me to speak.

"Frostbite, I've been living with Vlad…willingly … since about three or four weeks ago." I looked down to the ground before I looked back up to the yeti's face. He nodded concerned but encouragingly, for me to continue. Bringing my hand up to rub the back of my neck, I kept going. I know I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, but I'd still only ever talked about it once. "You know he's a halfa, like me, so I knew he'd at least understand a little bit. And I really couldn't think of anywhere else to go…" I trailed off as I heard Vlad walk up behind me and felt him rest his hands on my shoulders, massaging them gently. I felt my eyes start to get hot with the gesture. I probably looked like a real baby right now. Somehow though, I got to the point without totally losing it.

"My parents Frostbite…They uh," I paused to sniff and find the words I wanted to use. "They found out." I felt Vlad tense as a much bigger crunch of snow let me know that Frostbite was moving forward and had knelt down in front of me. I felt a large claw under my chin and slowly force my head upwards to be met with Frostbite's sympathetic face. The yeti's voice was low as he kept it down so he wouldn't scream in my face.

"Great One, there is nothing I can say to make things better. There is nothing I can do, that will make things alright. I can however, offer you my sympathy and condolences." With gentleness such a big creature shouldn't have had, he wiped the tear from my eye with the end of his claw. After having done so he stood back up to his full height before adopting a warm smile.

"Also if what you say about your Adversary is true," Frostbite nodded to Vlad, "then I would suppose you are both not quite adversaries at present?" I heard a deep but light chuckle come from behind me.

"No, I wouldn't say that we were at odds as of lately." At Vlad's sly smile Frostbite broke out into a hearty laughter.

"A feast, then, is in order! For the Great One and, his as well as our, new ally!" Without warning Frostbite's hands swooped down and picked both me and Vlad up to perch on his shoulders. Vlad let out a short yell and I only laughed. I watched Vlad struggle to adjust to his new position as Frostbite shared some gossip with me.

"We've already received you're dog Cujo, and made him quite comfortable. I must admit I had a feast started immediately with the obvious precursor to The Great One's arrival." I just rolled my eyes. I always had to eat till I couldn't walk because of the 'feasts' Frostbite insisted on. I heard a polite cough with laughter in its undertones from the other side of Frostbite's head and leaned back slightly to better hear what Vlad had to say.

"The Great One? Daniel, how did you come by such a title?" I started to blush as Frostbite loudly explained.

* * *

Mostly I wanted to crawl in a hole and not come out for about ten years because of the smirk Vlad was wearing at my expense. Otherwise though things with Frostbite were going great. There were a couple points in the conversation where I had to reassure Frostbite that Vlad had been taking good care of me. Frostbite trusted _me_ and everything, the problem was that he was for the most part cued in on what I thought of Vlad before now too. It had taken a lot of evidence and say so on my part for Frostbite to completely drop the hostility. Vlad had been pretty cordial overall, even when he still thought that the Far Frozen could be a threat to me. I think though, once he saw my 'shrine' he was convinced that there wasn't a single soul in the Far Frozen that would ever intentionally hurt me. From there on out Vlad pretty much made fun of me while it all sailed over Frostbite's head.

Cujo couldn't walk because he had eaten so much so quickly. The entire village had show up to greet me and Vlad and to eat with us at the feast. Now only me, Frostbite, and Vlad were all still at the table talking. Okay well really it was just Vlad and Frostbite who were talking; I was trying not to die the rest of the way from embarrassment.

"I do believe our hospital was busy for quite some time afterwards. Though in retrospect I suppose he generated a good deal of business for the doctors here. The Great One has a more than generous deal of power at his fingertips. Learning to control it was quite the adventure. I don't believe I've trained anyone with quite such disastrous consequences." Vlad wiped a non-existent tear from his eye and chuckled as I just tried to hide myself underneath my plate. There was a lull in conversation as Vlad finished laughing, Frostbite coughed slightly to get my attention. Hesitantly, I picked my head up from the table to look at him.

"Great One, though I would be thrilled if your sole purpose for being here was to visit and share with us your new caretaker, I suspect that is not the case." I sighed in relief when it was clear this conversation wasn't going to cost me any of my dignity.

"Well, yeah. Part of it was to come see you and to let you know I was now on good terms with Vlad and not to attack him anymore and stuff. The other part was though that I kind of needed to use the Infi-Map-if you would pretty please let me?" I smiled uncertainly up at Frostbite only for him to chuckle loudly.  
"Great One, I have been over this many times! You are free to use the map at your leisure." Suddenly Frostbite became more serious and bent down to whisper in my ear. "Though are you sure that you would like to bring Plasmius with you? You do remember what happened when he got his hands on the map before. I have every confidence that you will use the map responsibly. Plasmius on the other hand…" I nodded and turned to whisper back to Frostbite.

"Honestly I don't think it would be smart to let him have the map if I'm not here, but I'm pretty sure that if he does use it, it won't be against you or me. Vlad's good about keeping his word that way." Frostbite nodded in conviction and stood up to his full height.

"Very well then, follow me." Vlad seemed surprised for a minute but followed behind Frostbite next to me anyway. He walked closer to me than necessary; I was sure, to ask me what I had talked to Frostbite about.

"And he has no qualms about letting me use his treasured artifact?" I sighed and whispered back.

"No Vlad. He won't have a problem with it, if I don't have a problem with it. So just don't give me any reason to have a problem with it and we'll be fine." I waited for Vlad to say something witty or smart in response but he never did. When I turned to look at him he was wearing a knowing smirk. I tried to ignore it, but really when Vlad Masters, and especially Plasmius, smirk like that; it just can't be ignored.

"What's that look for?" Vlad's sly grin grew a fraction before he replied.

"It's ironic to me, that you don't realize the clout you hold in the Ghost Zone. I don't think you are quite aware of the influence at your fingertips dear boy. Even with just the Far Frozen in your favor as they are now, you are a force with connections to be dealt with. It's funny that I never realized until now the about of pull you have in this dimension. You do absolutely nothing to flaunt your true networked power. Admittedly it's still not as much as I might have, but you do have a great deal, from what I can figure. You keep everyone in the dark, thinking you are a lone boy with no reinforcements." I closed my eyes and sighed. So that was what this was about. Vlad still didn't understand what Frostbite and my friends were to me. I tiredly brought my head up to try to explain to him what he was getting wrong. Though I severely doubted I would be getting anywhere.

"Vlad these people, that you've met and will meet, they aren't my 'allies' or 'connections'. I'm not on good terms with them because it gives me power or, 'clout'; whatever that means. They are my _friends_. I don't count them as a fighting force and you shouldn't either. I'm not asking anyone to fight for me. I'm not asking for any benefits. I don't advertise them, because there's nothing to advertise. I'm friends with them. I protect them when they need protecting. Now all I'm asking is that I don't have to protect them from you." I couldn't help but let my head sink slightly when Vlad sighed. I don't think our views on this were ever going to match.

"You truly are too noble for your own good dear boy. It's going to be your downfall." We entered a tall hut and a short hallway that would lead us to the Infi-map. I could sense Frostbite was getting more serious too as his shoulders squared slightly and his hands twitched. We entered a tall room with maps all over the walls. A pedestal was in the middle; sitting on top was a familiar glowing purple chest. Frostbite turned to us, okay well more to Vlad, as he spoke.

"As I am sure you are both well aware the map can be very dangerous. I advise you to use it sparingly and as always never stray from the indicated path. Be wise in its use." Frostbite lowered his eyebrows and glared meaningfully at Vlad before he handed the map to me. I took it gently and made sure that I didn't say anything would make me take off without Vlad holding on.

"Thanks Frostbite, you know this is going to help me a lot. It always does." Me and Frostbite exchanged warm smiles before I turned to Vlad with a heavy sigh "Okay so Pandora's, Wulf's, Johnny's, Amorpho's, or Dora's? Take your pick." Vlad thoughtfully scratched his beard for a moment before he said anything.

"Pandora, as in the Greek goddess?" I nodded my head with caution. This seemed to make up Vlad's mind as he had decided where he wanted to go.

"I believe that would be an appropriate first stop." I uncertainly moved to one side offering Vlad a place to hold on. He took the space I made and grabbed on like he had done this a million times before. Okay well yeah, I guess he has done it a few times before.

"Take us to Pandora's Palace." With a cry of 'be safe' from Frostbite we were zipping through the Ghost Zone.


	31. Chapter 31: Welcome to the Neighborhood

AN:/ Oh my god this thing took for-ev-er! I had to watch like five different episodes just to make sure all of the characters were in character. I had to do research on motorcycles and Greek myths. everything you see in here that references to the real world is legit. Oh and a fun little fact you might like to know. you remember how I gave Vlad like 46 allies and 32 foes or whatever in chapter 28? Yeah I didn't pick those numbers willy-nilly, there was actually MATH involved. I skewed the numbers a little bit to make it look better, but the number of ghosts Vlad knows and how many are in what category is proportional to the amount Danny knows and has in each category. Just thought some of you might appreciate knowing that. Everything in this story I have looked up and made sure was correct and if i did fudge anything I've let you know about it. If there is one thing I am proud of in this story, it is its accuracy! Okay i just had to get that off my chest. Wew, alright well, on with it!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 31: Welcome to the Neighborhood

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 12:10AM_

_Edited: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 5:38PM (because 'wiped' is not the same as 'whipped' and really there were some bad typos that distracted the reader.)  
_

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**IMPORTANT:** Would you look at this? more important information you need to know. Ready for this? Ghosts can eat. I checked, it aligns with cannon. Frostbite throws a feast in Infinite Realms. Aragon had a feast thing in Beauty Marked. In Walker's prison during Prisoners of Love, Danny is thrown into a cafeteria where you can see food on the trays. Yes it's true, Ghosts can eat. Now I don't believe that they _have_ to eat, but that's just my opinion. I mean what are they gonna do "die of starvation"? Yeah, doubt it. So when you're reading this chapter going "Oh my gosh why is there all of this food everywhere in the Ghost Zone? Ghosts don't eat!" My reply is; yes, yes they do.

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**Danny's POV**

"Are you sure you're going to be fine? I just would like to know in advanced if you are going to freak out." Vlad rolled his eyes before returning to his slightly tense demeanor. We had gotten to Pandora's Palace just fine and we were now outside her front door, ready to knock. Well, I was ready. I wasn't so sure if my self-appointed body guard was though.

"Daniel, drop this nonsense and knock already. I'm not going to take back anything I did earlier, and I'm still going to be on the lookout for anything that might go wrong. I'm not going to 'freak out' as you seem to think I will." I sighed heavily and slapped my hand to my forehead. Fine, I give up. I stopped myself from going to pinch the bridge of my nose as my hand slid down my face. Since when did I pinch the bridge of my nose?

"Fine Vlad, just please try to restrain yourself if you feel the need to attack another one of my friends." I turned to the heavy door behind me before Vlad could respond and lifted my fist to knock. I loudly rapped on the door as Vlad grumbled in the back ground. We didn't have to wait long for an answer. Swiftly and powerfully the door opened not thirty seconds after I had knocked. Pandora appeared looking her usual stern way until she saw who was at her door; then her face softened significantly.

"Danny Phantom! What a pleasant surprise. I would hope that you were only here for a friendly visit, but experience and the large amount of weaponry attached to you has led me to expect otherwise. What is it that you need?" I blushed slightly at the accusation Pandora had made. I always felt really bad about asking for help from my ghost allies; mostly because I never got the chance to pay them back and I never did just go to see them to _see them_. My hand snuck up nervously to the back of my neck.

"Actually, I am kind of here just to visit; well, and to introduce you to Vlad." I quickly stepped aside to better reveal Vlad who was behind me. I anxiously watched for both of their reactions. Things had already gone wrong twice, I knew a pattern when I saw one. Vlad was still tense and gave Pandora a very brief once over before he stepped forward and bowed slightly, offering Pandora his hand.

"Vlad Plasmius, the pleasure is all mine." Pandora's eyebrow shot up and she looked quickly to me before she took Vlad's hand.

"Plasmius you say? The elder halfa?" Pandora looked skeptically at Vlad as he rose from his bow. Vlad didn't miss Pandora's skepticism and replied with a slight chill in his tone.

"That would be correct. You have heard of me before now I suppose?" Pandora quickly glanced uncertainly back to me at hearing the ice in Vlad's voice.

"Yes a small amount. Though, I guessed form what I had heard that you were not exactly interested in associating with entities such as myself or Danny Phantom. I'm just surprised that you are friends." At this Vlad dropped his hostility and speculation. Now only a hint of frustration colored his tone.

"It would seem unexpected wouldn't it; though here we are. Daniel and I_ are_ the only two of our kind. Really it's only natural that we share some sort of relationship with the other." At this Pandora nodded enthusiastically; pouncing on the fact that Vlad wasn't being cold anymore. She turned more to face me, now speaking to the both of us.

"Yes yes, of course! Phantom, you and Plasmius must come inside. It would be wrong to keep you here on the step." Pandora stepped backward and to the side slightly; opening the door with one of her four hands while gesturing with the other three.

"I assume Frostbite has already forced a good deal of food down your throats but it would be impolite not to ask…" I made my eyes big and put my hand on my stomach, exaggerating my reply.

"No Pandora, I'm pretty sure I'm good for the next month or two." I smiled when I heard a chime like laugh, though I was taken by surprise at the deeper one that accompanied it. I turned curiously, and saw that Vlad had an amused smirk on his face. When he saw that I was looking at him he only looked back at me as if he was completely innocent. With an eyebrow rasied I quickly turned to face forward again as we were led deeper into the temple like house. Pandora continued to talk, oblivious to our silent conversation behind her.

"Yes I suppose so. Though that shouldn't stop us all from becoming acquainted, will it? I know how you love the courtyard Phantom, I thought we could catch up there." I nodded in response before I realized that Pandora couldn't see what I was doing behind her. I quickly said something.

"Cool, sounds good." I could have sworn I heard Vlad snicker behind me, but I decided to ignore it. Soon enough we were walking underneath a huge open archway and into an enclosed outdoorsy area with bushes, fountains, and columns. Pandora led us expertly around the obstacles to a small seating area. She gestured for us all to sit down on the stone benches that were arranged towards each other. We all just sort of sat awkwardly before Vlad of all people got conversation rolling. And here I thought he was going to be difficult the entire time. I guess though he was sort of good at this social thing…

"So, Pandora, do you travel often?"

* * *

I waved back to Pandora as we flew a distance away from her front door. Vlad waved a little too before he turned to look forward. He was being really weird. I didn't know when he was going to be attacking people or be nice. As soon as I thought I had his process for this whole 'meeting my allies' thing figured out he goes and plays the 'civilized trillionaire' card. I mean, the tensest things got were at the door. You would have thought Vlad had been friends with Pandora his entire life. I didn't have to do anything to get them to like each other. Just a couple of hours ago though, I was trying to keep him from blowing everyone in the Far Frozen to bits. I didn't understand what he was trying to pull; and trying to figure it out was giving me a headache.

"Are you alright Daniel, you seem upset? I thought things went rather swimmingly if that's what you're fretting about." I just shook my head. Really this whole thing couldn't be over with soon enough.

"I'm fine Vlad, just tell me where you want to go next. Wulf, Dora, Johnny, or Amorpho?" I reached for the map I was keeping tucked in one of the many loops that came along with all of the guns Vlad was making me wear. Yes I was _still _wearing them. Vlad stopped my arm before I could reach the map causing me to look up to him.

"Daniel, you really are a terrible liar." I just sighed and let my head drop.

"Vlad, it's nothing really. I'm just tired and ready to be done." I started to push against Vlad's hold again but he wasn't letting me budge. I sighed loudly in frustration.

"Vlad common!" He only looked at me sternly as he spoke.

"Try telling me the truth and we'll see if we get anywhere." I growled in frustration. I really hated how he could tell if I was lying or not. I could be lying about my favorite color and he would still be able to tell.

"I'm frustrated and confused, it's nothing new Vlad," I paused and muffled my voice, unthinkingly speaking to myself, "especially when you're involved." Immediately after I said this Vlad's hand dropped from my arm. Surprised more than anything I looked up to his face; he was once again behind his stony mask of indifference. Though the more time I spent around him when he was like this, the more I was able to see through it. Right now he was making it pretty hard _not_ to notice that underneath his little act he was hurt by what I said. I looked to the side briefly in embarrassment before Vlad spoke.

"What is it that I have done or am doing that would make you confused?" I slumped my shoulders as I tiredly replied.

"Vlad really, it's not you, okay? Well...I take that back, it is you- but it's nothing that I want or need to talk about. I just really want to get this over with." I went to pull out the map and was once again stopped. I just let my head sag to my chest. Hopefully Vlad would just say what he wanted to say and we could get a move on.

"Daniel look at me." The tone he used made me think about disobeying, just for a second. Though I decided against it; if I made him upset he already had a hold on my arm. I brought my head up. He just stared at me for a minute before he started to sternly speak not five inches from my face. "Not being enemies anymore is going to be increasingly difficult if there are things that worry you that you won't allow me to know about. I can't be you're ally Daniel, if you insist on forcing me to fulfill the role of the villain in your own mind when I do something that doesn't make sense to you. Please tell me what is upsetting you and I will see if I can explain. I'm not going to try to hide these things from you anymore." There was a solid thirty seconds where Vlad held onto my arm and I just stared at him.

"What made you be nice back there?" Vlad blinked a few times as he let go of my arm.

"Beg pardon?" Still skeptical of whatever answer he was going to give I explained what I meant.

"Why were you nice to Pandora like that? What made you give her a chance to be nice before you judged whether she was a threat? Why didn't you automatically assume she was going to hurt me like you did with Frostbite and Cujo? What was the difference? How can you have one set of criteria for one person and then a totally throw those out the window for the next?" I only raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms when a coy smirk spread over Vlad's face.

"Well to begin with everything I've done so far has been to advance my own agenda." My mouth hung open at the unashamed statement.

"So you are planning something!" My eyebrows lowered as Vlad only _laughed_ at what I had said.

"Oh dear boy, heavens no." I sputtered a little despite myself. If confusing me was an Olympic sport, Vlad would have the gold medal.

"But you just said that you had an agenda." Vlad only shook his head and grinned.

"I do have an agenda Daniel, but that doesn't mean it's a hidden one. I'm sure you were aware that I was very cautious about coming into the Ghost Zone with you. Everything I've done has only been to make sure that no one, namely you, gets hurt." I just hopelessly looked at Vlad as he sat there grinning like he knew everything.

"That still doesn't make any sense. I mean yeah I can guess why you would attack Frostbite, and even Cujo; to 'keep me safe'. But that still doesn't give me a reason why, when we met Pandora, that you would all of the sudden drop this 'attack and ask questions later' stuff." Vlad moved so that he could clap me on the back; putting his arm around my shoulder as if we were walking down some sort of path.

"Little badger I do believe you are thinking far too hard on the matter. I retailed in Cujo's case because I was, quite frankly, unprepared for the dog's zeal. Things played out the way they did at Frostbite's simply because the two of us had had a less than friendly past. I had no preconceived notions of Pandora besides what I know from the Greek myths. She did not attack and presented herself in a mostly non-threatening way. I was much more inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Though you should not be fooled my boy, just because I carry on a relaxed or civilized conversation does not mean that I am any less prepared to spring into action if the need arises." My mouth hung slightly agape for a moment as I let all of what Vlad had said sink in. So it was all only a reaction? He wasn't acting weird to screw with me? I know he usually didn't, now that I lived with him, but it was still hard to get used to. So really then all I need to do to prevent any more drama was make him better prepared. I could just tell him about-

"Well I do think we should be moving now. We still have four of your allies to visit yet." Vlad swiftly let his arm fall behind my back to rest on the map. He pulled it from the loop in one of my holsters and let it unroll itself. I barely had time to hang on before we were off.

"Take us to Amorpho."

* * *

Okay, well I had never been to Amorpho's door before, and it was kind of strange. I had just never had a reason to go and find where Amorpho lived. Whenever I had needed him he was always somewhere, wandering around in the Ghost Zone. The door totally fit with Amorpho and all, but I think knocking was going to be a challenge. Another five seconds went by and the bared up door, like you would see in a ghetto, faded to a grey blob before it twisted and folded in on itself somehow coming out of the mess as a fancy carved hard wood door. Without taking my eyes off of the door, which was changing now into one you might see at the entrance to a dungeon, I talked to Vlad.

"So um, you know Amorpho isn't going to try anything major. He doesn't like _major_ trouble. So you don't have to freak out if he tries any pranks. They're almost always harmless, and when they aren't it was unintentionally harmful. I'm pretty good at catching his little pranks and stuff in the first place so I'll be able to handle most of it. I think if anything he'll be nervous that you're with me and wonder what is going on. He isn't the best at the whole hospitality thing either, especially when he's nervous, so we probably won't be here for long. Are you ready to do this?" I pried my eyes away from the door to hear what Vlad had to say. When I looked over his eyes were also glued to the evolving door in front of us.

"Whenever you are dear boy. Based on his door I have to say I'm rather intrigued." I just turned back to the door which was now a happy white like you might see on the front of a well-to-do house in the suburbs. I quickly flew forward and knocked on the painted wood before it could change into something creepier. As soon as I touched the door it faded back to a dull grey and stayed that way as I finished knocking. One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. Impatiently I turned back to Vlad to see what his reaction to all of this was. Just as I was halfway turned around I caught Amorpho out of the corner of my eye.

"Billy, I mean Danny! What brings you here? In need of assistance for another prank I assume? It _has_ been a while since you've pulled anything major, hasn't it?" There was an excited evil tone in Amorpho's voice that always creeped me out slightly. My hand snuck up to the back of my neck as I realized that Vlad could hear everything that Amorpho had just said. I was definitely going to hear about those comments later.

"Uh, no Amorpho actually I just wanted to introduce you to a new ally I've made and get the two of you on good terms." A lot like I did with Pandora I stepped to the side to reveal Vlad who was behind me. The difference here was that Pandora didn't freak out like Amorpho did.

"V-Vlad Plasmius. What a pleasure." I could have sworn that Amorpho literally shrank as he maneuvered himself behind the door frame. I looked to Vlad and saw that he had a malicious, satisfied smile on his face. The fact that his fangs were showing and making him look like a vampire out of an eighties Dracula movie was not helping. I hoarsely whispered at him under my breath.

"Vlad." He looked to me and only rolled his eyes before he made himself less creepy looking. I really hoped Amorpho wouldn't just flat out shut the door as Vlad spoke and offered his hand for a handshake.

"I assure you, Amorpho, the pleasure is all mine." Amorpho looked between me and Vlad rapidly before he seemed to even consider accepting Vlad's handshake. Finally his pale gray hand met with Vlad's black gloved one, if only briefly. Amorpho, after shaking Vlad's hand, stood back in the doorway and tried to retain what little dignity he had left. He jumped slightly when Vlad coughed to get conversation started.

"Amorpho, Daniel has informed me of your basic talents, though I am unfamiliar with them. I have never met any ghost with capabilities like yours. Would you care to elaborate for me? I would be most interested in hearing about it." I looked to Vlad, impressed. How did he know to do that? Amorpho loved to talk about his powers. He could go on and on. Sometimes I had to threaten him with the thermos. That was pretty much the best thing Vlad could have said. Amorpho stood up a little taller as he prepared to talk about his powers.

"Well it's quite simple really. I can take the form of anything I want so long as it's a living moving being." Vlad gave me a sidelong glance as he feigned being impressed.

"That is quite the useful skill to have. I can think of quite a few instances in the past where something as such might have been useful. Would it be too much to ask for a demonstration?" Even without a mouth; I could tell that Amorpho was beaming proudly.

"Of course, would you care for anything in particular?" Vlad smiled. It wasn't exactly a friendly smile, but it wasn't evil either.

"Surprise me." Amorpho nodded before he melted and twisted into a grey blob. In less than a heartbeat Amorpho was gone and in his place was…another Plasmius. I anxiously looked back to Vlad to see what his reaction would be. Vlad studied Amorpho for only a moment before he enthusiastically replied.

"Excellent! If it weren't for the fact that I had no mental connection with you, I could have sworn you were merely one of my duplicates." Now _Amorpho_ smiled in that creepy way that made his, well I guess 'Vlad's' fangs show. And true to form he perfectly replicated Vlad's voice as he spoke next.

"I am flattered that you would say so. I do work to perfect these things." The real Vlad clapped his hands once loudly in delight.

"Even the voice! And you've only known me for say a few minutes?" The fake Vlad in front of me suddenly darkened and melted into a grey blob again before changing into… Me. I sighed in frustration as Amorpho spoke next, now in my voice.

"Well, you know it is easier with the people you know better." Amorpho casually leaned up against the door frame. "Once I've had time to get to know 'em. I can imitate them better. I mean, their speech and mannerisms and stuff." Vlad only giddily looked between the two of us before rubbing his hands together.

"Remarkable, truly remarkable." I growled slightly at Amorpho as I saw a smirk slide onto his face at Vlad's praise.

"Amorpho change back." Amorpho raised his eyebrows for a moment while Vlad countered my demand.

"Oh come now Daniel, we're just poking fun. You of all people can take a joke." I only crossed my arms and grumbled. I thought I had been over this with Amorpho but apparently not enough times. After a moment of me pouting I heard Vlad sigh exasperatedly and Amorpho change back to himself. Deeming it safe I brought my attention back to the conversation as Vlad spoke.

"Well I do believe the two of us should be going. Should I expect to see you again?" He directed the last part exclusively at Amorpho, who seemed to puff himself up with the question. As if being asked something like that from such a 'powerful ghost' was a privilege. I was only a little less powerful than Vlad and I never got that sort of thing.

"Of course! I would always be happy to be of service; whenever I can help." Vlad nodded and like the true businessman he was he offered his hand again for a closing handshake. Amorpho took Vlad's hand without hesitation now and shook. I was wary as Vlad struggled to hide the greedy tone in his voice. It was faint, but it was there.

"I may take you up on that offer I hope it was not whimsically offered." Amorpho's red eyes got wider a moment as he responded.

"No no no, I was sincere. Whenever you need my services don't hesitate to ask." Vlad smiled that weird not friendly/not evil smile again as he stepped a little ways form the doorway.

"We really should be going now. I'm afraid we must bid farewell." Amorpho put his hand on the doorknob.

"No, don't let me keep you. Goodbye then." Vlad and Amorpho shared a weird smile as Amorpho closed the door. Then it was just me and Vlad as we stood there next to the door which had gone back to changing every few seconds.

"Now, what are these, 'pranks' that he mentioned?" I sighed a defeated sigh and reached for the map. I had really hoped for a second there that he had forgotten about that.

* * *

"Remind me again, why you choose to be friends with this particular grease head." I smirked at both the name Vlad had used for Johnny and his annoyance.

"It's a mutual relationship kind of thing. I let him and Kitty into the human world sometimes and they owe me the occasional favor. It works for me. Johnny let me use his tools once to fix the speeder when it was broken down. It really doesn't matter to me as long as they don't get into trouble." The map finally lead us to a stop in front of a garage door. I smirked again at Vlad's grimace, and pounced on the opportunity to capitalize on Vlad's discomfort.

"Common Vlad it's just a garage door. It's completely harmless, besides being a little dirty." Vlad only wiped a finger along the less than immaculate surface in distaste.

"Precisely." I just snickered to myself and gave the garage door in front of us a really good loud banging. The large door clanged against the metal knuckles of my gloves creating plenty of noise. We didn't have to wait long for someone to come to the door.

"_I'm going Kitten, cool down!"_ There was a shuffle of footsteps and the clinking of wrenches being tripped over. As Johnny peered through the peep hole he had installed to see who was there, there was a pause in the comotion. Finally with the sound of a giant heave, the garage door in front of us started to open. Knowing the deal after having been to Johnny's a couple of times I reached down and helped. It wasn't a flimsy garage door by any means. Besides being the entrance to their apartment it was the only line defense between the rest of the Ghost Zone and where Johnny kept his bike. Johnny let out a breath as we pushed the door up to rest on tracks that hung from the ceiling.

"Thanks little ma-holy shit!" Johnny backed up and stumbled over a few tools he had left on the garage floor. Vlad sneered at the language Johnny had used. "Phantom I don't know what kind of stunt this is, but it's not cool." Johnny shakily pointed to Vlad as he stood back up all the way. I couldn't help but laugh at Johnny and his nervousness. He was always a stickler about 'keeping his cool' so it was extra fun to watch him loose it. Johnny, who was still on the verge of a panic attack at seeing Vlad Plasmius at his door, only pleaded as he continued to go back towards the door to their apartment.

"Phantom this isn't funny man; what is he doing here? I'm not being punished am I?" Johnny's eyes widened before he turned to Vlad to plead his innocence. "I've stayed away from the twerp after you gave the word. I swear I haven't seen him since he went to stay with you." I finally got a hold of myself long enough to explain to Johnny what was going on.

"Johnny relax he's with me and he's not going to hurt you. Today we've been going around to all the ghosts I'm on good terms with and making sure that Vlad knows not to attack them and that they know not to attack him." Johnny looked between me, as I tried to keep my smile under control,and Vlad, who wasn't doing anything to hide his disgust over what state Johnny kept his garage in. Oil stains were all over the concrete. A big bright red tool box was filled with tools and weird odds and ends. All over the floor there were wrenches, screwdrivers, and dirty towels.

"_Johnny Thirteen are you going to keep our company in the doorway_ or are you…" Kitty's voice became clearer and then trailed off all together as she appeared in the doorway that lead from the garage to the rest of their apartment. She swallowed thickly before she spoke barely above a whisper. "V-Vlad Plasmius… Would you like some coffee?"

* * *

"Thank you Katherine." Vlad took the chipped coffee mug that Kitty had offered to him and politely sipped its contense. Kitty blushed at being called her full name.

"It's no problem. I'm sorry we don't have anything better to offer. And I'm sorry about the mess. I didn't know we would be having company." Vlad brought the mug down from his face to reply as Kitty sat down next to Johnny on the futon across from us.

"It's quite alright my dear. I went to college; I understand how these things work." Kitty blushed again as she clung to Johnny's arm. The couch me and Vlad were sitting on was totally shot. We might as well have been sitting on the floor for all the distance it kept us off the ground. There were a few odd stains on the orange shag carpet. A rug was awkwardly strewn over them to cover as much of the stains as it could. There was a pile of dirty dishes on the counter that looked like they needed to be done. I caught Kitty throwing glances to the imperfections in their house; while Johnny, though he had relaxed a little bit, was still nervous and in the process of rubbing his knees off from the stress. He stuttered as he spoke.

"So uh, y-you two aren't fighting anymore huh?" I exhaled and leaned back on the couch me and Vlad were sitting on.

"Nope, and by the time we get out of here you guys won't be fighting either." Kitty got a cautious, but curious look on her face while Johnny flipped a lid.

"W-Why would we be fighting in the first place? I'm not fighting Vlad Plasmius!" I sighed and leaned forward again. This whole 'Johnny being scared' thing was fun at first but it was getting old, fast.

"Johnny, seriously, you need to calm down. You keep freaking out and it's not cool." Johnny looked to me and nodded; seeming to realize I was right about the 'cool' part. He muttered to himself as he took deep breaths. Finally he stopped rubbing his knees and he tried to lean back on the futon a little bit. Kitty, in support of her dip-wad in distress, continued to pat his hand. There was a weird silence before Vlad politely coughed, causing Johnny to search the room frantically before he settled down again.

"Daniel tells me that on occasion you do favors for each other. I believe he more specifically mentioned repairing some vehicle when it had broken down?" Johnny hesitantly nodded as he replied; trying his best to go along with the conversation.

"Yeah, he and his little friends had broken down not too far from here when I found them. I figured that was one of the times I could help the little man out for letting me and Kitty get to the human world without at fuss. It's just kind of a back and forth thing." Vlad set his coffee down on the wobbly coffee table in front of us as he replied.

"You found it necessary to repay your debts. I like that quality in a man. It shows he strives for independence, to stand on his own." As Vlad spoke I anxiously watched Kitty for her reaction. She rolled her eyes and scoffed in disbelief; muttering under her breath.

"'Stand on his own'; that's a laugh." Johnny snuck his arm around her shoulders and growled at her under his breath.

"Please Kitten not right now." Kitty only shoved off Johnny's hand.

"No Johnny, you can barely keep this place livable. I'm sick of you not caring what our quality of after-life is like. What about times like now Johnny? Someone important comes over to our house and what do I have to offer him? Black coffee in a chipped mug; a chipped mug Johnny!" Kitty stood up and was about to walk through the small kitchen to the bedroom when Johnny sprang up after her. He too was now yelling. Both of them seemed to have completely forgotten that me and Vlad were there.

"Kitten please. You know I care just as much as you do." Kitty whipped around to yell at Johnny again.

"Do you know how embarrassing it is? Do you?" Johnny threw his hands up in the air.

"What do you want me to do huh? We didn't exactly die with a small fortune on us! It's not like I had anything to work with when we showed up here. This isn't like when we were alive and I could just go out and get a job!" Kitty's eyes started to get all glassy as she yelled back. I repressed my instinct to get up and stop the fighting. I had tried before with very disastrous results. Kitty was right back at Johnny, brimming with tears.

"Skulker does it! Ember has a boyfriend that can support her. She doesn't have to wash her dishes in the sink because she can afford a _dishwasher_!" Johnny scoffed and put his hands on his hips.

"Why is it-"

"Excuse me!" The room went dead silent as Vlad stood up and stopped them from yelling. Johnny turned back around to look at Vlad; his face was red from shouting. Kitty held back choked sobs as mascara ran down her cheeks. Taking a breath Vlad closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke in a low tone of voice.

"Both of you, come back here and sit down." Johnny and Kitty looked at each other before they walked opposite directions around the futon and sat as far apart as they could; refusing to look at each other. Vlad didn't sit down though. He only moved so that he was more evenly in front of the two.

"Katherine, look at me." She tearfully wiped her eyes and brought her gaze up to Vlad. "You are the woman of the house. It is understandable you would desire a man to take care of you. It is also understandable that you are unsatisfied when your requests are repeatedly neglected. However, Jonathan is quite right. There is virtually no _honest_ way of making a living in the Ghost Zone. The only reason Skulker has as much as he does is because he has earned it, doing under the table work for me. I believe Jonathan refused to accept any of this type of work because as long as he can avoid it, he would rather not rely on underhanded jobs to support you and himself. You should be proud that Jonathan held enough integrity to keep you from being clawed into that particular line of work." There was a long pause where Kitty sniffled and stole glances at Johnny before letting her eyes fall back to her lap.

"Jonathan." Johnny looked up to Vlad while trying to retain some of his dignity. I knew form experience that this was a very difficult task and wasn't surprised when he didn't have much success. "It is your job as the bread winner, to provide for whomever you have chosen to support. It is understandable that you think there is no hope left of finding a credible way to bring in any revenue. It is understandable that you become frustrated when you are accused of not caring because of an inadequacy over which you have no control. However, you do need to better explain to Katherine _why_ you are having so much trouble with the finances. It isn't fair to leave her in the dark about your situation; even when you already have for so many years and she has loved you enough to stay by your side regardless. You should be grateful to have found a person that will love you and believe in you so thoroughly." Johnny flushed with the accusations. Vlad sighed before he finally took a seat on the couch to continue what he had to say.

"The problem remains however, that the both of you have trouble sustaining yourselves." Vlad leaned back on the couch and steepled his fingers while crossing his legs; managing to look a lot like the business man he was in human form, even with the cape and fangs. As if Johnny and Kitty had completely forgotten about the fight they had just had, they scooted closer together to better hear what Vlad had to say. "As you well know I am quite well off and run numerable companies. I already find work for Skulker to do. His talents have been useful in the past and I have been able to properly reward him for his services. I am not suggesting that you work for me as Skulker does. I am aware that is not something you would be persuaded to do." Vlad stopped for a minute to sit up and address Jonny. "It was clear, when I walked in, that you are familiar with performing maintenance on your bike. It obviously is not of modern origins. I would summarize it is of a fifties make?" Johnny nodded and supplied the specifics.

"1956 Harley Davidson KHK." Vlad nodded seemingly satisfied with something.

"Katherine, I'm afraid, would stick out too much in the human world to be considered for work. You, Jonathan, however will blend right in. A good shower, a change of clothes, and anyone without the wherewithal would pass you off as a living person. Now here is my proposal." All of us Johnny, Kitty, and me leaned in to hear what Vlad had to say. I honestly had no clue where he was going with this. This whole thing had not been anywhere in the plan.

"Jonathan, you come to the human world and I will recommend you to the business associates I believe you could be of service to. I can think of one in particular who has an extensive collection of vintage motorcycles that would need upkeep. You see, virtually no one has any knowledge of these types of machines anymore, and those who do are few and far between. What I believe you have to offer is experience that could gain you an edge. You would work for these people at a reasonable fee, give the money you earn to me, and I can turn that into something you can use in the Ghost Zone." All three of us just stared at Vlad. Johnny's mouth was on the floor. This was too good to be true. Vlad was never this generous. Somewhere, there had to be a catch, there just had to. Johnny finally was the first to stutter to life.

"That's g-great! I'll do anything, a-anything at all if it means I can go to work." My eyebrows lowered in suspicion when Vlad got that smirk on his face. I knew that smirk. There was going to be a catch, and when Vlad said the catch there was going to be a hidden catch that you didn't know existed until it was too late. I listened very carefully to what Vlad said next.

"In return for my services to you. All you have to do is inform me of what is going on in the Ghost Zone. Unfortunately there is not a newspaper that I can buy to keep me updated on the happenings here while I am in the human world. All you would have to do is inform me about the things I ask when I request them." Kitty was quietly squealing, bouncing slightly up and down. Johnny was completely dumbstruck. Kitty whispered hoarsely into his ear to get him to snap out of it.

"Common Johnny, say yes!" Johnny blinked and made a few indistinguishable grunts before he started to say something.

"Ye-"

"Johnny don't!" I was practically off of the couch and about to slap my hand over his mouth before he continued. Everyone's eyes were glued to me and my interruption. Vlad had a look of severe amusement while Johnny and Kitty were obviously very mad with me.

"We didn't ask you for your input Danny." Kitty's pupils were practically on fire.

"Just shut up twerp, before I lose this chance forever." Johnny looked about ready shove his boot in my mouth. I winced at their anger but held my ground. This was all for their own good.

"Okay, but do you know exactly what you're getting into?" Johnny was obviously, barely restraining himself.

"He's going to give me a job and all we have to do is give him gossip that we already spread to everyone else. It's not that complicated. Now would you let me do this?"

"No." I swiftly got up and sat down between Johnny and Kitty so I could better negotiate with Vlad. "Let me help you with this. Now what-"

"Phantom I swear to god." Johnny was glowing green and glaring bloody murder. I sent a glare right back. He really couldn't hurt me if he wanted to, and he needed my help whether he knew it or not.

"I want to help you by playing Lawyer, so sue me." I froze for a moment when I realized what I had just said. "Wow that was bad." I heard Johnny growl before Vlad said something, stopping him from doing anything rash.

"Now Jonathan settle down. My offer is not disappearing any time soon and Daniel is right. You can never be too cautious when making an agreement of this magnitude." Vlad paused to let his fangs show and his eyes flare when he spoke next in a very low dangerous voice. "I might also remind you that if you so much as harm a hair on his head you will sorely regret it." With Vlad's warning both Kitty and Johnny shrunk back and quieted to the point where you wouldn't have thought they were there. Even I couldn't help but get Goosebumps. Vlad really knew how to threaten people. I turned to look at both Johnny and Kitty now that they were being forced to cooperate.

"Guys I promise; this is going to help." They just continued to look at me, terrified into silence. I sighed before I turned back to face Vlad.

"Okay, first things first; what happens if they don't have the information that you want when you want it?" Vlad relaxed into the couch as he dismissively answered.

"Well I suppose in the occasion that they didn't have the information I needed they would not be pulling their end of the bargain, would they? There would have to be a consequence for that. If I did my half and they didn't do theirs, that would be unfair to me." I could feel the stares that Johnny and Kitty were giving to the back of my head as I was saving their butts. I only rolled my eyes and got on with things. Johnny so owed me for this one.

"Right, so I think it would be fair that if you wanted specific information you have to give them a week notice so that they have time to get it." I paused for a moment a turned back to Johnny and Kitty. "A week is enough time, right?" The both of them only slightly nodded. I sighed and turned around to Vlad so I could hear what he had to say.

"That seems reasonable." I nodded and checked an item off my mental list; loophole number one had been avoided. On to loophole number two.

"Okay now I'm not happy with the term 'information'. There is a lot of stuff that is just impossible to find out like; Where does the Ghost Zone end, or What's Behemoth's favorite color? I don't want you to be able to ask for 'information' that they just can't find out ,or that to get it they would have to put themselves in harm's way." Vlad smirked slyly as he responded.

"Now I don't know why you would think I would ask for such things. It's not like I would request something expecting them not to know it so I could punish them. Of course I will formally agree to abstain from such acts. However, I believed it would be a given that I wouldn't stoop so low." I only scoffed and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the Bill of Rights was supposed to be 'a given' too, but we still wrote those down. Alright moving on, if they are going to be your new informants, then they need to have your protection too. I don't want them to tell you some gossip so you can do something nasty with it. Because if that person finds out that you found out from Johnny and Kitty, they'll attack Johnny and Kitty, not you. If you want to do that sort of thing, you need to make sure that they don't get the beating for something you told them to do." Vlad seemed almost… proud?

"Very good, I agree completely. Now, was there anything else you wanted to address before we make the agreement?" I ran back through my memory for a minute trying to find another loophole that I might have missed. Still a little uncertain I turned back to face Kitty and Johnny.

"I don't know can you guys think of anything?" They just stared at me blankly not moving a millimeter. I sighed and spun back around. "That's about what I thought you'd say. I still want this in writing. Vlad, why don't you come back later and have them sign something once we have it drawn up. I don't want you taking advantage of any confusion later, and having it all written down would make me feel better." Vlad smiled that weird kind of proud smile again before he stood up. Me, Johnny, and Kitty took our cue and stood up too. Vlad breathed loudly before he spoke next.

"Very impressive little badger, you'll make a fine businessman someday." I blanched when I heard what Vlad had just called me. Johnny finally spoke for the first time since Vlad had threatened to fry him.

"Little badger?"

"Okay, me and Vlad are gonna go write up that contract now. It was nice seeing you and-all-but-he'llbebacklater-bye." I grabbed Vlad's arm and high tailed it to the door to the garage. I didn't hesitate to throw open the heavy garage door and toss it down a little less than carefully before booking it out of there. I slowed once we were a good distance away and I was sick of Vlad's laughing.

"Vlad was that really necessary! I'm never going to live that down! Do you know how much crap I'm going to get for that?" Vlad only wiped a fake tear before he calmed down enough to reply.

"Daniel, you're clearly overreacting. I'm sure they wouldn't dare to tease you that badly." I only groaned and dragged my hands down the side of my face.

"Let's please just get to Dora's and then Wulf's so we can be done with this."

* * *

I stopped and sighed heavily in disbelief when I realized what looked so different about Dora's castle.

"I really hate Frostbite sometimes."

"Is that a banner with your insignia on it?" There was obvious laughter in Vlad's voice. I whipped around and glared.

"This isn't funny Vlad," I turned back and looked at the heavily decorated castle before us in disgust, "or healthy." Vlad let out a hearty chuckle before he was back to poking fun.

"I suppose they decorate like this on a regular basis then?" I distastefully looked at all of the black, white, and green banners hung from every available hang-able space.

"Frostbite must have told her that we were coming. That's how she had time to get all of this stuff up." I felt a large hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Vlad smirking happily down at me.

"Well it's not all bad news." I just looked at him like he was an idiot. He ignored my look and continued. "This means she must already know that I'll be accompanying you as well. That will mean less conflict for us to deal with." I sighed and looked back to the castle. It was like a car wreck; you really don't want to look but there's just something that makes you look anyway.

"Yeah, well I'm still in the front anyway alright? I already explained to you about why that would be the best and safest plan and you are not telling me otherwise." Vlad only rolled his eyes.

"Daniel, please just get on with this. And you're not going in front, you're going _beside _me. Now stop stalling you're interrupting my fun." I slowly started to drift towards the path that would lead to the gate that was the entrance to Dora's castle.

"As long as 'your fun' means I'm being humiliated you can count on the fact that I'll be interrupting it." I landed on the large floating land mass that was Dora's domain about a hundred yards out from the entrance. The path we would take up to the front gate was almost a tunnel because of all of the old dead trees that hung themselves over it. Some new trees though, were starting to sprout up. They had started growing when Aragon's rule had ended and Dora had brought them out of the Dark Ages.

"It seems as though Dorthia and her kingdom are stuck in medieval Brittan with these castles and dead forests. Really it's rather cliché." I had a private laugh with myself as I realized the irony.

"Actually they aren't anymore. I got to help out with that whole deal. Last I heard they were actually all the way up to the 1600's. If we're lucky they'll have silver wear now. I'm not sure though they still like most of their old ways and traditions." I smirked when Vlad recoiled slightly at the thought of eating without a fork or even a knife.

As soon as me and Vlad set foot into the clearing that surrounded the castle trumpets blared some unrecognizable fanfare from when King Arthur was alive. I shook my head from the loud noise and forced myself to walk forwards.

"Like the trumpet playing, they really like that tradition." Vlad stayed right by me the whole way up to the moat; though he really couldn't talk now over all of the commotion. We made it without a fuss over the bridge that spanned the moat. Both the Axe guy and the Arrow guy, that had at one point thrown me up against bill boards, lowered their heads and bowed as I got close. Without any warning the giant iron gate that protected the entrance fell down into a slot in the ground with a thunderous clang. Old rusted hinges screamed as the enormous wooden doors that were behind the iron gate swung outward. Vlad had a conniption at the unexpected shriek and was in front of me in a second with hands ready to fire. I acted before he could do anything.

"Vlad cool it! It's just the doors. They haven't got WD-40 yet and that's it, everything is fine." Vlad just stood still for a moment before he nodded and went back to beside me as we continued to walk forward.

"Really that was much too loud to be safe. They should replace those." I just rolled my eyes and continued to walk towards my doom. As we got closer to the entrance I could see ghost after ghost come towards the entrance on the other side, most likely to get a good look at me. Dora soon appeared herself in the middle of the medieval archway; smiling more than should be allowed. As me and Vlad came within talking distance of Dora the crowd that was now being restrained by guards, let up a cheer. I just groaned beneath the uprising of noise. Without thinking, I complained out loud; under the impression that no one would hear me over the screaming.

"Is this really necessary every time I come to visit?" I quickly regretted my words as Dora's smile faltered for a moment. She abruptly turned and raised her hands to quite the crowd. Instantly there was complete silence. Dora turned back to me and I could feel my cheeks start to burn up.

"Lord Phantom, I am sorry if the celebration bothers you. We were all under the impression that most humans and even some ghosts preferred this sort of thing. I can have it taken down at once. Phillip!" Dora turned to shout back at the crowd who was now taking it upon themselves to retreat. Everyone had a look of disappointment on their faces, and I could tell Dora was struggling to hide her own shame and embarrassment. I hate having a conscious sometimes.

"Hey wait! No, its fine it's all really cool! I love it! It's just overwhelming is all." After I said that everyone lit up like a Christmas tree; like literally they started to glow brighter in excitement. I wanted to kick myself. Stupid, stupid conscious. I shrank back slightly in anticipation as Dora clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Really? How wonderful! We can continue the evening as planed then!" The crowd let up a short cheer before they all hustled away to do something or another. I was guessing that what they were going to do was not going to bode well for me later. Dora looked between me and then to Vlad before starting conversation.

"So it is true that one of Lord Phantom's enemies has aligned with him. 'Tis a rare occasion that deserves celebrating as well as a proper introduction." Why did she have to say 'Lord'? I'd already been over this a thousand times. I didn't want to, or deserve to be called, a 'lord'. Fine, if she was going to start calling me that, I was going to use proper pretenses too. Dora waited expectantly for a moment before she looked to me curiously. I had no clue what she was looking at me for.

"What, am I supposed to do something?" I could tell Dora was trying her best not to sigh, however Vlad wasn't doing anything to hold himself back.

"Yes Daniel that would be the proper introductory procedure." I shrugged and 'introduced' the two of them. I don't know why we were going through with this though. They had already met, even if it wasn't a warm fuzzy meeting.

"Vlad Plasmius this is _Her majesty, Princess Dorthia_." I gestured to Dora and she curtsied a small amount. When she rose she gave me a raised eyebrow. I only smirked and continued. " _Her majesty Princess Dorthia_, this is Vlad Plasmius." Vlad then took it upon himself to expertly sweep his cape to the side and give Dora a perfect bow, even as he did so he was adding a title onto the end of his name. I had no doubt it was to make himself sound more important.

"Guardian and Caretaker of 'Lord Phantom'." I could hear the smirk in his voice when he said that. I just rolled my eyes. The tone in Vlad's voice though, soared completely over Dora's head and she just as obliviously carried on conversation.

"Lord Plasmius, I believe, would be the proper title in this case. The title of Duke can be passed down from father to son. Though I suppose in this case it would be most appropriate to pass it 'up'; if I may." Really? Was it really necessary to call Vlad 'Lord Plasmius'? I didn't even want to look at Vlad to see the mischievous smirk that I could _feel_ radiating off of his face. I decided to take control of the conversation before Vlad did something else.

"_Your majesty_, what did you have planned for us. I really hope it isn't food. I'm still stuffed from Frostbite's." Dora just smiled and told me what I was afraid I was going to hear.

"Why of course we prepared a feast m' Lord. I hope you would expect nothing less." And there she goes with the 'Lord' thing again. Dora started leading us away from the entrance as she gestured for us to follow. Obviously she wasn't getting the hint I was trying to send.

"Dora is all this 'Lord' and 'Majesty' stuff really necessary? I already told you I don't like being called that. I still don't understand why you even made me a Duke in the first place." Dora giggled daintily and brushed my comment off with a sigh.

"I suppose we have been over this before. As you wish, I can refer to you as Danny, and you can refer to me as Dora. We are on friendly enough terms. I just get used to all of the formality. It's only when you're here that I'm called anything different. It's actually quite refreshing in retrospect." I smiled in relief. Honestly, having to think about what I was supposed to call people was not what I had the energy or brain power to do right now. Dora paused for a moment before she took the first step up a long winding staircase.

"I suppose I should extend the offer of a first name basis to you, Lord Plasmius, as well?" Vlad politely shook his head before he answered.

"Unlike Daniel, I rather like my title. Just as Daniel calling you Dora is refreshing to you, having a noble title every once in a great while is refreshing for me." Dora turned around to continue at a regular pace up the staircase; now talking over her shoulder.

"Good. I don't think I could remember to call more than one person by their first name. With Danny I'm mostly accustom to it though." When Dora was completely turned around I sent Vlad one of those glares that said 'really?' he just smiled innocently back at me as we continued up the staircase; which by now was turning out to be really long one.

"Hey Dora, where are we going anyway? Isn't your throne room on the ground level or whatever?" I could practically hear the smile beaming on Dora's face. Quite frankly the fact made me afraid. Very, very afraid.

"Danny we will be attending a feast, as we usually do when you visit with time to stay. However thanks to Frostbite's advanced notice I was able to throw together something more formal for the occasion. Though you may not prefer to be referred to as such, you are still a Duke in my kingdom and I cannot have you attending a formal event in your current attire." Dora paused for a moment to look over her shoulder. "And the weapons have to go as well. I assure you, you will be well protected in my dining hall." My eyes got wide and I stopped on the stair case when I realized what Dora was saying. I wasn't stopped for long though, as Vlad forced me up the stairs to keep pace. I stuttered as I was herded up the stone steps.

"I don't have any other clothes with me Dora I'm sorry. I-I guess that means that I just have to go in this." I picked up the front of my jumpsuit to look at it. What was so wrong with it anyway? It was comfortable; though I was agreeing about the weapons. Dora laughed lightly as we finally got to a landing; which meant the top of the stairs.

"Danny you do have a sense of humor. I've had clothes tailored for you. I'm sure you will like them. I went to the ends of the Ghost Zone to make sure that it wasn't distasteful; even by your modern standards." I gulped. There was no way I was coming out of this with all of my dignity intact. Before I could make any objections Dora quickly stopped at a door and put her hands on the door knob. She looked to Vlad as she opened the door.

"And Lord Plasmius, you shall have the proper clothes made for you as well. I have only just set my seamstresses to work on it. Frostbite was able to provide me with an ice sculpture likeness to serve as a manikin to get the job done." I only felt a little better as I saw Vlad shiver at the mention of an ice statue of himself. It was only a second though; as soon as I stepped into the room that Dora had opened the door to, I was back to mourning the death of my dignity.

"I'll be back for you once I have Lord Plasmius squared away Danny. Hurry now we don't; have time to dally." I tore my eyes away from what I was being forced to wear to plead for help from Vlad. He only smiled laughingly at me as he spoke.

"Come now Daniel, you surely remember how it embarrassing it was to have Jack wear that wretched orange jumpsuit to every formal event? You don't want to stick out like that and embarrass _Her Majesty_ do you?" My mouth instantly soured with the mention of my dad. I really didn't think about that. I was being selfish by not cooperating, and really the jumpsuit would look weird next to everyone else. Suddenly my jumpsuit wasn't so comfortable anymore. Actually it was a little suffocating. I mean there was no breathing room, and the only break in the fabric was the hole for my head. I looked back up to the door to say something to Vlad, but both him and Dora were gone. I sighed and turned back to what I was supposed to wear. Really though both my options here weren't that great.

* * *

"You look rather dashing this evening m' Lord. Could I offer you another drink?" Another one of Dora's servants had come by with a tray of drinks on it, most of them glowing. I looked tiredly to my half empty glass.

"Sure, what the heck; and thanks." The woman only lightly giggled before she set a drink down in front of my plate and moved on. I guess, compared to everyone else, I did fit in pretty well. I had been getting that comment all through dinner. By now I was guessing it was dinner time, anyway. I wasn't sure how to feel about what I was wearing really.

For starters, most of it was black, thank god. Black looks good on everyone and I think I would have died if Dora had made me wear some obnoxious color, it would just look weird with my hair. The shirt I was wearing was long sleeved and fit really tight around my chest. Though somehow the silver buttons on the shirt weren't strained at all; they laid completely flat. On the shoulders were these weird wing things, kind of like I had seen on the marching band uniforms back at Casper. The underside of those were white while the top was black, to match the rest of the shirt. The sleeves were kind of loose, but they weren't frilly, like I had seen some other guys wear, so I was grateful. The white under-shirt I was wearing had a weird collar that stuck straight up my neck. When I had put it on I had felt a lot like Bruce Lee anyway. The pants were okay. They were just like regular pants, only they were black, and I had to tuck them into my boots so that they puffed out the top like a paratrooper. The boots weren't mine though, these were different. First off they were white; they were kind of like combat boots only they were less bulky and they went all the way up to just below my knee. They had taken forever to lace up; especially with having to stuff my pants in there. Then there were the gloves. Those were white too, and leather and they made my hands sweaty. I didn't have to wear those long though; I got to take them off to eat. Oh and let's not forget about the belt. It did nothing to hold my pants up. Basically it's a thick strip of fabric that's bright green that looked eerily like my ecto energy and I had to tie it in weird knot around my waist. I got to wear a sword and sheath though that was cool. The hilt was all curly and decorated like you see in the movies, I enjoyed that part. I was still on the fence about the cape. I mean it wasn't a long huge cape, just a little one. When I let my arms fall to my sides it only came down to just bellow my elbows. It didn't have any fur trim or anything and was pretty simple; white on the outside and green, to match the belt, on the inside. And last but not least, was the hat. Oh god the hat. Well for starters it had a white feather on it. And I'm not talking a small white feather, this thing was huge. I don't know what kind of bird they got this feather from but I did not want to meet it. The hat itself was black and kind of like something I guess Zorro would wear; only it was curled up on one side. Either way I would never disrespect the 'don't wear hats inside' rule again. It was the only thing that was saving me from actually wearing the stupid thing.

"Daniel, Princess Dorthia is speaking to you." Vlad, who was dressed in a white, black, and red version of what I was wearing, shook me from my thoughts. I blinked before I quickly found where Dora was sitting across from me.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Dora smiled as she repeated what she had said.

"You haven't said much, and you've barely touched your plate. We even brought out the silver ware for you, since you always seemed to mention it before we knew what it was. Is there something wrong?" I smiled warily and shook my head.

"I'm fine Dora. Just a little tired is all. Plus you've seen Frostbite's feasts; I'm still full from earlier." Dora nodded, still concerned. I heard Vlad sigh and shift around form across the table.

"Yes I suppose Daniel is right. It has been a rather long day. Perhaps it would be best if we moved towards making our last stop?" Vlad looked questioningly to me. I didn't really know what to do. I mean I didn't want to offend Dora or anything but I was tired. I tried to be as nondescript as possible.

"I'm fine really. I can stay as long as you want me to." Dora looked to me with a mischievous smile.

"So you'll be staying for an eternity then?" My eyes got wide as I sputtered, trying to correct myself.

"I didn't mean-"

"With all due respect Danny, you are still alive and you need your sleep. It may have been a while since I have _needed_ to slumber, but I can still remember. You may go and get your own clothes back on." I smiled uncertainly at Dora in gratitude.

"Thank you Dora. I'm really sorry I can't stay longer." She only waved me off.

"There will be plenty more times that we will be able to enjoy the others company. Run off now." I slid out of my chair and went to climb the stairs. Dora was so awesome sometimes.

* * *

"Vlad he's a werewolf. He lives in a cave. It's what werewolves do. We won't have to be here for long, but can you please just try to not act repulsed while we're here. He's a really _really_ good friend. And if he runs up to me like Cujo did, it's because he's happy to see me, not because he's about to attack me. He is still part wolf, which is a dog, so he does that sometimes." Vlad didn't do anything to wipe the look of disdain off of his face. "Vlad seriously?" Vlad just gave me a look like I was crazy for trying to change his mind. I huffed for a minute before I tried one last time to get him to lighten up. I was frankly, losing my patience and ready to be done for the day.

"Okay forget the fact that this is the guy who helped me save the entire town from Walker and the sophomore class from Walker again a second time. Wulf can make portals. Honestly I was surprised you didn't know him already. Because of what he can do I thought you would have sought him out. If there is a person you want on your side its Wulf. He's loyal to seemingly no end, he's reliable, and he can jump between two freaking dimensions whenever he wants. If for no other reason, be nice because it works to your advantage." I paused for a minute before I added something. "And he's how we're getting home." Vlad gave me a skeptical look when I said that last part.

"You still have the map and we will have to return it. How are you going to get it back if we are in the human world?" I rolled my eyes and took out the map from the loop I had stored it in. I guess it was a legit question but it honestly seemed like Vlad was just stalling. Me and Vlad had landed on a large mass of rock which was the entrance to Wulf's cave. I walked over to a nearby rock and set the rolled up paper on top of it. I then set my own hand on top of the paper so that I could pull away when I was ready. The paper started to glow as I gave it its command.

"Take yourself home." I quickly took my hand off of the map and it zipped into the distance until we couldn't see it anymore.

"Well that was rather convenient." I just rolled my eyes and turned to start walking towards the entrance to Wulf's cave. Light wouldn't be a problem in the cave; one of the perks of night vision.

"Common Vlad, and remember Wulf only speaks Esperanto alright?" Vlad sighed and walked leisurely behind me, forcing me to slow down so that I kept pace with him.

« Mia Daniel kiun ni iĝas agaciĝemaj ne ĉu ni estas? »

"_My Daniel we're getting testy aren't we?"(From now on italic speech means they're speaking in Esperanto.)_I tiredly rubbed the back of my neck as we forged onward.

"_Just getting tired Vlad, just getting tired."_ We kept walking in relative silence until we came to a certain rock that I knew was the official start of Wulf's 'house'. If we went any further than this without making ourselves known, we would be attacked as intruders. Vlad didn't need any signal to stop as he had seen me do so and followed suit. I cupped my hands to yell down the tunnel.

"_Wulf! Wulf it's your friend Danny! Can we come in?" _my voice echoed more than usual around in the hallow cave. It was only a moment before Wulf answered back.

"_Who comes with you?"_ I brought my hands back up to my mouth to answer back.

"_His name is Vlad Plasmius! He's a friend I wanted you to meet!"_ There was a longer pause after this. I thought I could hear a small amount of pacing being amplified down to where we were in the cave. Finally Wulf responded.

"_He means no harm?"_ I cupped my hands again to respond.

"_No, I only want to introduce the two of you and then ask for a portal home if you don't mind! I already sent the map back!" _There was another significant pause, though it wasn't as long as the other one, before Wulf replied.

"_Welcome, amiko and Vlad Plasmius, to my home!"_ I smiled and started walking forward. Vlad wasn't far behind. We walked a good fifty yards before we rounded a corner and walked another twenty. At the end of the cave in Wulf's little cove where he was standing waiting for us.

"_Thanks Wulf. I know you've heard of Plasmius before but I promise he's not going to do anything. He's with me. He even speaks Esperanto."_ Vlad took his cue, like he always did, and introduced himself.

"_Wulf, it is a pleasure to be of your acquaintance."_ Wulf only stared dumbly at Vlad and his outstretched hand for a moment before he looked to me.

"_What did he say?"_ I couldn't hold back a snicker at Wulf's expense before I told him what Vlad meant. Hey, Wulf was still, well, a wolf.

"_He says he's happy to meet you."_ Wulf smiled and then went to take Vlad's hand in his own very large paw. His claws were retracted at the moment so it wasn't too bad. Wulf spoke next.

"_I am happy to meet you too. A friend of Danny is a friend of mine."_ Vlad grimaced at Wulf's sloppy hand shake and lack of vocabulary, but it all sailed completely over Wulf's head, so I didn't do anything about it. I think Vlad tried to dumb it down for Wulf when he spoke next, but I'm not sure. If he did, he failed miserably.

"_Yes, your opinion seems to be the general consensus."_ Wulf only frowned and flattened his ears, looking to me. I couldn't stop a laugh as I translated for Wulf in his own language.

"_He says that everyone else we saw today said the same thing."_ Wulf nodded in sudden understanding and looked between me and Vlad for a moment.

"_I am sorry I do not have gifts to offer you."_ I had a private evil laugh with myself as I imagined Vlad getting one of Wulf's 'gifts'. They tended to be the head of some animal he had killed. It was probably better that Wulf didn't have any today.

"_It's okay Wulf. Vlad really doesn't like gifts." _Wulf gave Vlad a confused look and Vlad gave me a confused look. He was about to correct me that, yes he did like gifts, before I stopped him.

"Do you like dead animal heads that are bloody and rotting? Because that's what a 'gift' from Wulf is." Vlad made a disgusted noise and looked to Wulf only to look back to me again. Wulf flattened his ears, confused because he hadn't understood what I had said in English that upset Vlad. I only laughed as Vlad talked to Wulf.

"_It's true I don't like gifts. In fact I won't ever need a gift. The best gift for me would be no gift. Do you understand?" _Wulf only scratched his head and nodded.

"_You are very strange, but okay. I will save you no gifts."_ Vlad still disgusted replied.

"_Good."_ I got over my laughing and around to asking Wulf for a shortcut home. I was tired and I was seriously going to pass out soon.

"_Wulf, we've had a long day. I don't mean to leave so soon, but we are very tired. Could you help us get home?"_ Wulf understandingly nodded.

"_Yes I can see you are sleepy. Of course I will help you. You want to go back to your home, yes?"_ I was about to agree before i realized what Wulf was saying.

"_No! I mean, we need to go to Vlad's home. Do you know where the giant purple football is?" _Wulf seemed to think hard for a moment before he eagerly nodded. I continued to give him 'directions'. _"Okay, Vlad's home is just behind the football. I know you have never been to the place in the human world, but could you try? If it doesn't work I have another plan."_ Wulf determinedly nodded again, now turning away from me and Vlad. Vlad watched with interest and a slight jolt as Wulf abruptly un-sheathed his claws. I rolled my eyes as Vlad moved ever so slightly between me and Wulf. Whatever, paranoid fruitloop. Wulf brought his right paw up and quickly swiped it down. It seemed to catch on something and there was a screeching sound, like nails on a chalk board, as the portal opened. Wulf stuck his head through the portal before he pulled it back out.

"_Is this what you needed?"_ I stepped forward, only to be stopped by Vlad's arm. I just sighed and stepped back again knowing what he wanted to do. I was so past arguing by this point. Vlad tentively stuck his head through the portal before taking it back out to report what he'd seen.

"_It is. I believe you opened a portal directly into my secret lab."_ I could tell that Wulf was having a hard time understanding what Vlad had just said but he replied anyway; based mostly on the fact that Vlad was grinning.

"_I try hard for my amiko. I see you sometime again." _Vlad, all too eager to get away from Wulf, didn't hesitate in stepping through the portal and saying his farewells.

"_Goodbye!"_ I just rolled my eyes and walked up to Wulf to say bye.

"_I promise to visit some other time okay?"_ Wulf leaned down and gave me one long lick on my face. I grimaced a little and whipped my face off as I was stepping through the portal.

"_I love you too Wulf, I'll see you later."_ Wulf waved before I was completely through. On the other side I watched as strips disappeared from the portal and then it closed up all together. Vlad was still in the lab waiting for me to come through. He didn't hesitate to start talking when he saw the portal was gone and I was now the only one who could be listening.

"Well I believe that went rather well. Wouldn't you say so?" Exhausted I dumped all of the weapons I had been carrying on the floor.

"Vlad, let's talk about this tomorrow. I'm going to bed." Without waiting for permission I flew up and out of the lab towards that heavenly cloud that would grant me sweet oblivion.

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**Special Note:** I don't know what POV I want to put up next so i'm going to give you guys a choice. You can have a news report from Amity, Danny at School, or Vlad at work. I will do all of these eventually, I just can't decide in what order. drop me a line and save me from indecision! (please?)


	32. Chapter 32: Normal? WHERE!

AN:/ Wow I cranked this one out pretty fast didn't I? I'm pretty proud of myself actually. It's Christmas break for me so I don;t know how much i'll be able to get out for you guys these next two weeks. My dad is coming up from Florida and we're going sledding and to the shooting range and all that fun family Christmas stuff. so just because it's break doesn't mean i'll be writing the entire time; though I would like to. The POV that won was Danny. The votes tallied to Danny-6, Vlad-4, and Amity-2. I have to say that I was honestly surprised. I thought you guys would pick Amity since we haven't seen them in a while. And I thought you would want a break from Danny, since we've had him for the last couple of chapters now. Honeslty I'm mostly excited to write for Amity, since I've never done a news report before and I think i'm going to have fun making everything really dramatic. Looks like i'll be doing that one last though. Oh well, the consequences of democracy. Speaking of democracy, I didn't really expect all that many of you to vote, but I'm still going to remind you all of the importance of voting. I know for a fact there are a few hundred of you who neglected to vote. Especially you americans out there. VOTING IS IMPORTANT! You have a voice, use it! Maybe you just saw through my ploy to get a lot of reviews, I dunno. What can I say, writing Vlad has rubbed off on me. That still doesn't mean you shouldn't vote in real life. seriously though when people don't vote for their government leaders in real life it pisses me off. So vote DAMIT! Oh and there are a lot of line breaks in this chapter. Can you tell my meds have worn off?

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 32: Normal? WHERE!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, December 18, 2010, 10:33PM_

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**Danny's POV**

"Thanks Clinton, and tell Anne that Mr. Master's said he would buy her a whole new set of teeth if they don't grow back. I went through the same thing when I was losing my baby teeth, I wouldn't eat anything crunchy for weeks because I was convinced that all of my teeth were going to fall out and never grow back." Clinton laughed and strolled slowly around the limo to allow time to finish our conversation.

"Will do Mr. Masters. Take care now, I'll be back at 2:45 sharp." I nodded as I started to walk away from the limo myself.

"I'll count on it!" Clinton stuck his arm out of the driver's side door he was closing behind him to hastily give me a thumbs up. I only shook my head and turned to walk into school. I was finding it very difficult to put my game face on with thoughts of Anne scampering around, freaking out because her baby teeth had fallen out, running through my head.

Anne, I had found out, was Clinton's six year old granddaughter. After enough hours spent in the limo on the way to school I had run out of things to do. Online gossip can only hold my attention for so long. Most of what was on the site was complete crap anyway. Eventually I had ended up talking to Clinton. Turns out you can roll down this panel between the driver and the rest of the limo. Anyway, he was a pretty cool guy. He's apparently been driving Vlad around since 1987 when he earned his first millions. He has all kinds of stories about Vlad. Not necessarily _all_ of them were embarrassing, but most of them were. I'd been going to school in a limo now for two weeks, so a lot of the novelty had worn off. I mean don't get me wrong, I was still _very _ well aware that I was in a limo, but it was starting to become kind of a normal thing.

Most of this was starting to become normal, really. I had a pattern and it was easy to follow it every day. I woke up, had breakfast with Vlad, drove with Clinton to school, tried really hard to be super polite and be the best at everything during school, talked to Jazz when lunch rolled around, went home with Clinton, did my homework, ate dinner when Vlad got home, asked Vlad any questions I had about my homework, went to train, and then went to bed; wake and repeat. It was all so…

Normal.

I mean, minus the part where I'm half dead and living with a fellow halfa trillionare because my parents are thick headed and my friends are traitors.

No I'm talking about the other part; the part where I actually have a schedule that I can follow with certainty. Everyone else takes this sort of thing for granted. The fact that I can plan out my day, that I have a _routine_; that is huge. I'm not constantly being interrupted by ghosts, I'm not being held in detentions, I'm not avoiding my parents inventions, I actually have time to sleep. It is so freaking awesome. Do you want to know why it's awesome? Because I haven't been able to predict my day accurately for the past two years. For two years I never knew what I might be doing in an hour from any given moment. For two years I was constantly on my toes, _constantly _anticipating danger.

You know what though? After two years I had gotten used to it. I had adapted to it and learned to live with it, maybe even like it a little bit. I had learned to be okay with the fact that I didn't know if in the next ten minutes, my life or others could be threatened. It wasn't a part of a normal persons' life, but it was a part of mine, so I dealt with it.

Now, for the first time in two years, my life wasn't completely unpredictable. It felt great. For the first time in my entire _life_, I knew that the house wasn't going to blow up because of some new invention; that the food I was eating wasn't going to make me puke later. I knew that when I got home there would be a person there who knew what I was and didn't expect anything spectacular out of me because of it.

It wasn't like my life was completely boring either. I was still half dead. The difference was that now I had a decent amount of say in what I did with my time. I wasn't in any life threatening situations anymore. I didn't have to live like I might die the rest of the way at any given moment. And from what I had heard in the Ghosts Zone, people back in Amity weren't either.

I had asked Frostbite, at one point, if he knew anything but as usual he didn't. Dora said she hadn't talked with anyone who had been through the Fenton Portal recently, and noted to me that she thought fewer ghosts were even going through to begin with. Pandora said the same thing as Dora, but Pandora went on to predict that the reason they weren't going was because I wasn't there anymore. Johnny even said that the ghosts he saw come back through the Fenton Portal, were coming back to the Ghost Zone more beat up than usual. No, people in Amity were fine too. The only difference is that now I'm not the one putting my life on the line; trying to be a one man army.

It made me kind of disappointed I guess; that the town I worked so hard to protect got on just fine without me. I had honestly thought they needed me; that I had been the only thing standing between order and complete chaos. At the same time it was a relief because I knew that I wasn't their only resource. I wasn't jeopardizing anyone by staying with Vlad. I had wondered sometimes, about how Amity was doing, but I hadn't really had time to think about it much. Most of the time I was trying to _not _think about Amity; for obvious reasons. Jazz hadn't really said anything about it either, and I was pretty sure she would let me know if she needed me.

"BO-"

Instantly I whipped around and threw a punch as hard as I could into the surprise-attacker's face. They hadn't even been able to get out the whole "boo", before my fist was making contact with a nose. I could feel the guys face crack under the pressure of my knuckles. Without a word the person who had tried to scare me slumped to the floor, out cold.

A reflex too late I had realized that the person I had just knocked out wasn't a threat. Blood poured from the guy's nose as his face was starting to lose color. That punch had had enough power behind it to break his nose and knock him unconscious. I stared in pure horror for a micro-second at what I had done before I sprung into action; acting from what I had learned through helping one too many innocent bystanders. I dropped to the floor and immediately checked for a pulse and breathing. I ripped my jacket off; completely oblivious to everyone who had stopped to stare. Thankfully, I checked breathing and heartbeat off my list as I felt the breath coming out of his mouth and blood pumping though his neck. I spoke loudly and clearly as I tried to get his attention.

"Hey, hey can you hear me?" I got tense when he only incoherently mumbled. He rolled his head back and forth on the hard floor. Hurriedly I stuffed my jacket under his head so he wouldn't hurt himself more.

"Ow…my head." I internally sighed in relief when his eyes fluttered open. He was awake this was good news. Now I could try and figure out if I had given the guy brain damage or whiplash. I leaned over to where he could see me.

"Can you tell me where you are?" The guy tried to bring his hand up to touch his face. His speech, when he spoke, was slightly slurred.

"Im' at school." He seemed to indifferently look at his hand; trying to get his eyes to focus on it. Okay so he knew where he was; that was good. I asked another question.

"What's your name?"

"Jason Lurie." Jason blinked as he confusedly licked the blood that was dripping over his mouth. I nodded and determined that he was going to be okay. I didn't know his name, but it didn't sound like he was making it up. Jason, still confused started to talk again.

"Oh god what happened? I feel like I got hit by a bus." I winced slightly in guilt.

"You just decided to try to scare the wrong guy. Do you think you can stand up?" Jason's eyes wandered slightly before they settled on me. It looked like he was deciding something before he slowly tried to get up off the floor; sloppily putting his arms behind him to prop himself up. With me as a crutch, he made it to his feet. He struggled to wipe the blood from his face as he became accustom to his new vertical position. I looked back behind us and about a foot away was my jacket. Reaching back with my left foot, I moved it in front of me before I kicked it in the air so I could catch it with the hand that wasn't supporting Jason. I handed the jacket to Jason to use as a towel until he could get something better.

"Here, use this. We've got to get you cleaned up." Jason took the suit jacket and started wiping his face and chest off as we shuffled down the hall towards the nurse's office.

* * *

I am an idiot.

What the hell is wrong with me? Nobody else would have knocked the guy out for a good five seconds. It wasn't even like there was some explosion or I was in the middle of the fight. All the guy said was "boo"; not even that.

I was sitting in the principal's office, waiting for him to come and tell me what I already knew.

That I was an irresponsible, uncontrollable, monster.

Who needs ghost powers? I could already hurt enough people with my bare human hands. I scoffed at myself. I was just a freak; a paranoid freak who wasn't capable of living a normal life. I picked my head up from my hands when I heard the door open behind me.

Silently I watched as the principal, Dr. Morris, and … Vlad walked in. I could feel my face get redder and redder. Of course, I had knocked a guy out and broken his nose in three different places, of course they would call the parents. I averted my gaze to the floor, only getting a glimpse of the curious look Vlad was giving me as he sat down in the chair to the right of mine. Dr. Morris continued around his desk before he sat down behind it. There was an awkward moment of silence before Dr. Morris said anything.

"Dan, we called your father here to discuss what happened. Would you care to enlighten him?" I looked briefly to the principal before my gaze bounced back to the floor. He hadn't looked very happy at all.

"Daniel?" my eyes now wandered to Vlad. The look he was giving me made me feel a little better. I coughed to clear my throat as I explained to Vlad, very quietly, what exactly had happened.

"Well, I was just kind of walking down the hall; daydreaming and stuff. So I wasn't exactly the most alert. This guy, he uh," I swallowed thickly before I continued; "well, he t-tried to scare me." I didn't have to say anymore for Vlad to understand what had happened. Immediately he leaned towards me and started to try to calm my nerves. I had been gripping the chair arms to stop my hands from shaking. I couldn't grip too hard though, because I might break those too. I was a monster no matter what I did. It didn't matter how hard I tried, I was always going to hurt people. I was just a freak, a paranoid, sick little freak. Vlad made his voice like silk as he spoke.

"Daniel, I'm sure everything is fine. Really you've nothing to be so timid about." Just before I got the chance to reply Dr. Morris cut in with a scoff.

"That would be true if what he had just said was what actually happened." With a weird creepy look in his eye Vlad turned to face Dr. Morris.

"Are you suggesting that what Daniel has just told me is a lie?" Under Vlad's harsh gaze Dr. Morris faltered slightly before he was back to acting like Vlad was just any other parent.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. What you just heard is not what Jason reported." Vlad repositioned himself to better face Dr. Morris. I only tried to disappear into my seat without actually disappearing as I watched them have it out. Vlad virtually growled back at Dr. Morris.

"Do pray tell, what this Jason character reported." While Vlad was getting angrier with the situation, I was only going through the motions. I had done this before. I would get in trouble for something that someone else had framed me for. Granted the circumstances were slightly different this time, but it was virtually the same. Getting detentions for running repeatedly through the halls, for 'breaking' things that really Dash had broken; it was all very familiar. Dr. Morris tried to look Vlad sternly in the eye. Keyword 'tried'.

"Mr. Lurie believes it went somewhere along the lines of a fight. Jason had tried to give a compliment and it was received by Dan in the wrong way. Apparently that is when Dan decided that Jason deserved some sort of 'punishment'." I could tell that Vlad was holding himself back as he argued my innocence.

"Did it ever occur to you that this boy might be lying to get Daniel into trouble because he was not happy with the unfortunate circumstances of a prank gone wrong? That maybe he lied so that when word got out to the others, he would not look so utterly pathetic?" Dr. Morris was getting red in the face; I couldn't really tell if he was mad or nervous. I think it might have been a mixture of both.

"Yes, Mr. Masters, it has also occurred to me that your son may well have lied to decrease the amount he would be punished for his rash actions." I was honestly impressed with the fact that Vlad's eyes were still blue after Dr. Morris said that. It was weird, but the madder Vlad got, the safer I felt. When I saw Vlad get angry on my behalf like that, I really knew he was on my side; and it was obvious he was beyond mad when he spoke next. He didn't shout or anything, but it was such a cold low hiss that it was more effective than any screaming could have been.

"Just what evidence do you have to prove that Daniel would lie, let alone engage in such brutality?" You know, it really is a good thing that people don't know Vlad could fry them if he wanted, because Dr. Morris wouldn't have been nearly as calm or sly about what he said next.

"Because this is not the first physical fight your son has engaged in while in attendance at these facilities. Jason also brought to my attention that Dan here had an unknown history of physical confrontations." There was barely a pause before Vlad responded, now with a touch of annoyance in his tone.

"So here you are taking this Lurie character purely at his word once again. Yet you still provide no grounds on which to base your accusations." Dr. Morris without a sly grin or any sign of emotion turned his computer monitor around so that me and Vlad could see what was on the screen. My insides immediately constricted. This definitely wasn't good for me. Vlad was about to say something before Dr. Morris indifferently hit 'play'.

"_There's one."_

My voice came through the speakers of the computer, cocky as ever. The view from the camera was shaky and the backs of heads briefly bobbed into the shot before bobbing out, not entirely blocking it, but enough to be distracting. Bill's voice came from the speakers next, agitated and angry.

"_What?" _

"_You said to find a seat, so I found one. There's one right there. Or did you want one with a person in it? In that case there's one right here too."_

"_Maybe what I said was too complicated for you to understand. Let me simplify things for you. You can't sit here and if you know what's good for you, you will stand up and go sit somewhere else."_

"_Is that what you meant? I'm sorry I misunderstood you, but I can't go sit somewhere else. If you take a quick look around then you'll see that all of the other seats are taken. I have a lot of homework to do, being new and all and I need this table so that I can get it done. Seeing as I got here first and I didn't know that you had exclusive rights to this table, it would only be polite to let me stay. There is still room for you to sit after all." I gestured towards the three empty seats. "You are more than welcome to take a seat. It is your table after all."_

There was a sudden bang from the speakers as Bill slapped his hands down on the hard wood of the table I had been sitting at.

"_Listen kid. I don't know who you think you are but-"_

"_Daniel Masters."_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_I'm just trying to answer your question. You said you didn't know who I thought I was, so I'm telling you. I think I am Daniel Masters. We went over that yesterday in the hallway if you don't remember. It's okay if you don't; I'm not very good with names either."_

And then Bill lost it. I sat there and glued my eyes to Vlad for his reaction. He only watched the video indifferently. I glanced to the principal to see he was looking between Vlad and the screen expectantly, before I went back to looking for a reaction from Vlad. He only continued to watch as I effortlessly dodged Bill's slow punches. Finally Bill had me in the corner and he rushed at me only for me to grab him before he ran into the wall. After Bill broke away there was a pause and the camera seemed to shake a little more before it settled.

"_Is pugna est non super. __If you know what that means." _

"_Etiam ego teneo quis is opes quod ego have loquor ut vos es vox. ego ero promptus pergo ullus vicis vos es. __Nos can loco nostrum varietas aside praecessi ut nostrum primoris ordo sententia can non nos? Is est iam duodeviginti viginti quinque quod Nolo ut exsisto tardus. __Ego have multus of opus verto in ut meus Dad succurro mihi per permaneo nox noctis. Ego mos animadverto vos in pauci minutes tunc."_

The camera followed me as I stood smirking for a moment before I went into the crowd and lost sight of me completely. I thought I saw a grin twitch on Vlad's face at the end, but I wasn't sure. It could have been the light from the computer. It was _that _small, if it was even a grin in the first place.

The video came to an abrupt stop and an icon popped up asking if we would like to replay. Vlad nonchalantly leaned back in his chair, seeming to have cooled down significantly from when the video started. Dr. Morris turned his computer monitor around so it was facing the right way as he spoke.

"So you see, it is not unheard of that your son participates in such violent behaviors. That is what makes Jason's story more believable than Dan's. I believe ten days of suspension would be sufficient." My eyes widened slightly at the sentence. I had never gotten anything that bad before. The worst I ever got was a good threatening of suspension. Vlad interrupted; sitting up properly.

"Just, what exactly, in that video proves Daniel to be capable of violent outbursts? He never threw a single punch; never did he even threaten to swing. If at all, this proves that William is not quite as timid as he presented himself in Germany." Dr. Morris seemed about to retaliate when Vlad abruptly stood. "You know I have a better idea, why don't we go see if Mr. Lurie can explain to me himself exactly what happened. Maybe then, things will clear up." Before anyone could protest Vlad walked briskly to the door, opened it and walked out. Dr. Morris looked to me, as if asking me what was going on, before he hastily got out of his chair to follow Vlad. If Dr. Morris was going to get up, then I couldn't get in too much more trouble if I followed too. Me and the principal caught up with Vlad just as he was opening the door to the nurse's office.

"Mr. Lurie, a pleasure to be of your acquaintance." I quickly hurried in before Dr. Morris could shut the door. Jason was lying on a very sterile looking sea foam green bed with white pillows, holding massive amounts of paper towel to his face. He looked over to who had called his name and blanched. Vlad just casually continued to talk as he walked to the guy's bedside; like a cougar closing in on its prey.

"It has recently come to my attention that you have assigned blame for your unfortunate state to my son, Daniel. Is this correct?" Jason's eyes were wide in fear. He only managed to nod underneath the massive heap of brown paper that he was now using in an attempt to hide. Having received an answer Vlad nonchalantly continued.

"Now Mr. Lurie, I would have no problem with your story if it wasn't complete lie." Jason made afraid by the conviction, inhaled a mouthful of paper towel and coughed as Vlad continued. "Yes, yes. I know it's a lie. You don't think I got to the top by cheating did you?" I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Now listen to me Jason. You know this is a lie, I know this is a lie, and Daniel knows this is a lie. The only person you have convinced is you're rather biased principal. Unfortunately for Daniel and me, he is the only one who needs to be fooled by your little act, for it to work. At this point you can do two things. You can continue to lie, for whatever reason, and force unjust punishment upon the _only _person who helped you when you fell, and who coincidentally, happens to be the only person that would accept his punishment without complaint or thought of retribution. You could also rise to the occasion and admit that you lied, relieving Daniel of his sentence. I'm sure you would also win his gratitude if you confessed, simply because that is the type of young man he is. We don't need to know the reason why you chose to lie, only that you did." Vlad paused for a moment to look directly into Jason's eyes before he continued. "So, which will it be?" Jason glanced quickly to me before he looked back to Vlad and then to the massive amounts of brown paper. It was at least thirty seconds before he said anything.  
"I wied, wit was weally an accident. I was wying wu sneak up on Dan when he wunched me. " Vlad turned triumphantly to Dr. Morris who was only staring dumbstruck. I looked gratefully to Jason who sighed, depressed, into the paper towel. Vlad strolled casually away from Jason back towards Dr. Morris; almost cheerfully he started to negotiate again.

"Now I believe this young man just admitted to falsely accusing another of a crime. This is a serious offense you see." Vlad looked inquiringly to Dr. Morris. Really? Was he really going to do this? He had already gotten me off the hook, and the kid really hadn't done anything seriously wrong. Was a punishment for him necessary? I didn't think so. I whispered harshly under my breath to get Vlad to stop.

"_Vlad." _He just kept right on talking. I knew he could hear me. He couldn't pull that excuse out of his ass, he had ghost hearing just like I did. He just wanted to punish Jason as an example.

"I believe Mr. Lurie almost had my son suspended because of what he was claiming. Because of this I think a similar punishment would be appropriate." I lowered my eyebrows as a sly smile I knew too well crept onto Vlad's face. I whispered again a little louder.

"_Vlad!" _He just kept right on going. Completely ignoring my efforts to try and stop him.

"If we're going with similar, we might as well come close. I believe seven days suspensio-"

"Dad!" My face got hot and my stomach did little flips after I said it. It was really really weird, but I had to keep appearances. It would be unusual if Vlad was supposed to be my Dad and I called him by his first name. It got Vlad to immediately stop though. He turned to face me with a really bizarre look in his eye. I didn't know where or even how to place it. Finally he sighed before he shook his head.

"We should really discuss these matters without an audience." As Dr. Morris responded Vlad gave me a look that I took to mean he was going to drop it. I gave him a tiny nod in thanks.

"Yes, I believe that would be a fine idea. Mr. Masters if you would follow me back to my office." Vlad was silently led away and I was left in a room with a person I had knocked unconscious by accident. I walked uncertainly to Jason who had now propped himself up slightly to look at me. I rubbed the back of neck nervously as I spoke.

"I uh, I'm sorry I knocked you out?" Jason only stared at me before he mumbled through his mass of dirty towel.

"why har wou apologizing wu me? I walmost wot wu suspended!" I sighed and put my hands in my pockets, turning away slightly.

"Before Vlad adopted me… I got blamed for stuff at my old school a lot. I'm kind of used to it. Really it's easier most of the time to just take it than to put up a fight. Listen I'm still sorry about punching you. I overreacted. I don't know what you were trying to scare me for but what I did wasn't okay. So if you need-"

"Stop." I looked up when Jason's voice was clear and un-muffled. He had put his giant wad down and was grabbing for some new paper. He only grabbed enough to cover his nose so that it wouldn't cover half his face. The bleeding had slowed now anyway. "They," Jason exhaled heavily like what he was about to say was something he had trouble admitting. "They offered me 50,000 dollars if I would do it." I just stared at him, confused. First of all, 'if he would do' what? Second, 50,000 dollars is a lot of freaking money, it wasn't that embarrassing that he took the offer. He sighed again and looked back to his lap, ashamed of something. "If I could get you to do something embarrassing and get it posted all over the internet, they were going to give me 50,000 dollars, cash. I dunno, you seemed like the kind of guy who would scream like a girl, so my plan was to scare you and have a guy nearby get it on camera. It was easy enough to do and you seemed distracted this morning, so I went for it. This wasn't your fault. I set the whole thing up, and it backfired," He paused to readjust his paper towel, "a lot." Strangely enough, I wasn't mad. Really I kinda felt for the guy. I mean I had just punched his lights out and now the video _of that_ was probably going to be all over the internet. If that had been his plan, then his camera guy probably wasn't a close friend. Whoever they were would probably end up putting it on the internet anyway for laughs. Though there were still a couple of things Jason had neglected to mention. I walked closer as I spoke.

"You didn't set the _whole_ thing up. Who was going to give you the 50 grand?" I had a wild guess, but I wanted to be sure. I never liked to assume anything; it usually ended badly if you did. Jason seemed like he was hesitant to tell me; like he wasn't sure if it was okay to say who had "hired" him. After a moment and Jason still hadn't answered; I shrugged and shifted my weight.

"Its fine you don't have to tell me. I'll still owe you a favor though. I mean, getting knocked out sucks, even if it was totally unintentional. What you had planned for me didn't involve any physical pain either, so it isn't like it would have been that bad. I just overreacted. Unfortunately, you were in the way. If Dad is doing what I think he's doing then I don't think either of us will be punished too badly. " There was a silence as I went to sit down in one of the chairs in the nurse's room. I could hear Jason heavily breathing through his mouth as he shifted around. There was just something in me that said I shouldn't go back to class just yet. It didn't really feel right to just up and leave Jason like that. The both of us sat there for a solid five minutes before Jason got my attention by opening his mouth like he was about to say something. All he got out was a small grunt before a door opened behind us and the school nurse walked in; instantly halting any and all conversation.

"Dan Masters, what are you doing in here? Is Dr. Morris done with you?" I hesitantly nodded before I looked to Jason. He gave me a timid empathetic grin which gave me more confidence.

"Yeah." The nurse only frowned.

"Well then you have absolutely no reason to be in here. Now get back to your second hour. You might be able to make it before the bell rings. Jason, the EMT is here to get you to the hospital and all patched up." Before the nurse hustled out of the room I caught her glancing to me, as if she was trying to convince herself that it was possible for a boy as scrawny as me to have broken Jason's nose. I only sighed and got out of my chair to go to my second hour. Well, normal was nice while it lasted.

* * *

"Dan, nice of you to join us!" Mr. Corfixen, my chemistry teacher, cheerily and obliviously welcomed me to class. As I walked to my seat, ignoring everyone else's obvious stares Mr. Corfixen stopped me. "Where is your jacket?" I was confused for a moment and looked down at my chest to find that Mr. Corfixen had been right. Through the whole mess I hadn't managed to get a new jacket. I scratched the back of my neck as I replied.

"I guess I left it in the nurse's office." Mr. Corfixen got a very confused and worried look on his face. I hurriedly tried to explain. "Uh, they said you would be getting an e-mail about it." Mr. Corfixen only nodded, still concerned and continued to ask me questions.

"Is everything okay?" I wanted to shout at everyone to stop staring at me like I was in a freaking Zoo, but that wouldn't be good for my 'I am so much better than you are' image. I just sighed as I swung myself into my seat.

"Yeah, everything's going to be fine. It's nothing to worry about, I promise." Mr. Corfixen finally decided that the need to get on with the last ten minutes of class was more important than what had happened to me. He turned back to the board as he gave me instructions on what they were doing.

"Dan, we're just taking notes today. You can go ahead and take out your laptop and get what you missed from a neighbor." I habitually reached down to the floor with my right hand to grab my brief case; only to reach and grab empty air. A brief moment of panic washed through me as I realized I didn't know where my brief case, more importantly, my laptop was. I coughed to get Mr. Corfixen's attention as I franticly back tracked through my head where I had seen my brief case last. Mr. Corfixen turned back around to face the class when he realized there was another problem.

"Yes Dan?" I mumbled a little to the desk as I responded. This whole scenario wasn't exactly helping me achieve my goals right now.

"I don't have my laptop with me." Now more annoyed than concerned Mr. Corfixen addressed the problem, once again.

"Well there isn't time for you to go get it now. Grab a sheet of paper and copy what you can." I nodded and got out of my chair to get a pen and a spare piece of paper from the stack that was sitting on the counter running along the left wall.

As class went on I sloppily copied down notes from the board. My hand wrote most of it from its own accord; my mind was really desperately trying to track down my brief case. The last time I can remember having it was when Clinton handed it back to me this morning. I must have left it in the hallway when I punched Jason. That meant though, that anyone could have picked it up. And 'anyone' meant that there was a chance that Bill, or someone working for Bill had, gotten a hold of it. That would not be good.

* * *

"Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me." Skillfully, I slipped between groups of people walking in the hallways as I booked it towards the office. I wanted to assume that Bill had it, but if it was just sitting in the office because the janitor had picked it up when he was cleaning the hall from the blood, then I wanted to get it. I didn't hesitate in pushing the heavy office door open a little faster than I should have been able to when I got there. As soon as I stumbled in the lady behind the desk was saying something to me.

"Dan Masters?" I frantically nodded and started to interrogate her about the whereabouts of my briefcase.

"Yeah, listen. I lost my briefcase. I think I left it in the hallway. Did anyone-"

"There is someone who would like to see you in the back room." The grumpy lady interrupted me without a second thought. She pointed to a door in a small hallway not too far behind her, before going back to her work and picking up the phone to talk to someone besides me. I sighed and trudged forward towards the door. I was really not in the mood to deal with this right now. All I wanted to do was find my briefcase and my laptop before it got into the wrong hands. Not much information about me was on there, but there was enough. I put my hand on the door knob and unenthusiastically opened the door.

"Daniel you really are too predictable." My mouth hung open as I saw Vlad smirking and standing innocently next to a copy machine. I looked in his hands and saw that he had two brief cases besides just his own usual one. I let out an enormous sigh of relief as I shut the door behind me.

"My brief case." Vlad only raised his eyebrow as I strode forward to get it back, though I stopped when Vlad didn't offer it to me. Great, I was probably going to have to do something to get it back now. Vlad chuckled lightly before he spoke.

"Not a 'thank you' or even a 'hello'? I suppose you were rather worried about this weren't you? Though really that's no excuse to be so discourteous." I kept my eyes on either the briefcase in Vlad's hand, the floor, or my shoes as I responded with fake enthusiasm.

"Hi Vlad, nice to see you again. I see you have my brief case there. Thank you for finding it, but could I please have it back now?" Vlad openly chucked this time.

"You aren't even curious as to how I found it? Not even a little bit?" I shifted my weight and rolled my eyes.

"Okay fine. I'll play the captured superhero for you, and you can tell me all about your evil plans while I have no choice but to sit here and listen." Vlad amusedly raised his eyebrows.

"I suppose if it disinterests you so much." Vlad offered me my briefcase and I greedily took it; quickly opening it to make sure everything was okay. "I believe you'll need this as well?" Vlad turned behind him and picked up a suit jacket that was perfectly pressed and matched the pants I was already wearing. I stopped what I was doing with my brief case; carefully closing it and setting it on the floor so I could put on the jacket that Vlad had handed to me. By the time I had my jacket on, my brief case had gone from on the floor not three inches from my feet, to back in Vlad's right hand. My shoulders slumped. How the heck did he manage to do stuff like that? I didn't see him do anything!

"Vlad common. I have to get to my next class." Vlad only set both of the brief cases he was holding on the floor to walk forward and adjust my suit jacket and tie.

"Really little badger, there's no reason to be so hasty. You know I think of everything. I've gotten you a pass. I only wanted to talk to you for a moment before I left once again." I cringed at the pet name and checked to make sure that nobody was there to hear it.

"Vlad please don't call me that; especially in public. The last thing I need is someone finding out about it. Really 'Dan','Daniel', 'dear boy', even 'son' is better than 'little badger'. Now can we please hurry this up? I don't want to walk in late to class and draw even more attention to myself. Mrs. Kleinheksel is pretty lenient about people coming in late and if I leave now I'll probably just be the last one through the door before she starts class." I motioned towards the door for emphasis. Vlad sighed with a weird smile on his face. This wasn't a creepy smile or even in the realm of an evil smile. It was kind of…I don't know what it was. It was sad but it wasn't.

"Very well then; all I wanted to say was that I'm proud of you, son. That fight was rather, how should I say, 'sagacious'. I'm sure whatever you plan for Mr. Ford will go over just fine if you continue to conduct yourself as such." I felt my cheeks got a little hot when he called me son. I hadn't actually thought he would go that far. I was sort of being sarcastic. Add that to the fact that when he said 'son' I had figured out that the smile was, a 'proud parent' smile, and I couldn't hold a blush down. I shuffled a little towards to door and away from the awkward situation.

"I-I'm not planning anything for Bill. He hasn't done anything that I have to get back at him for. I really have to get back to class now." I heard Vlad shift his weight as he finally moved towards the door behind me. I looked to him and couldn't miss the disappointed, longing look in his eyes that he was trying to cover with a smirk. I hesitated in going for the door knob causing Vlad to stop as well. I turned to slightly face Vlad as I spoke next.

"How did you find my brief case? I was sure somebody would have taken it." Vlad now genuinely smirked as he replied.

"When I saw you in the principal's office without it I assumed you had left it behind in your haste to help Mr. Lurie. I sent an invisible duplicate to investigate and found it lying close to the mess of blood the two of you left behind. I retrieved it just before William could come around the corner to watch it disappear." I couldn't help but let a smirk slip onto my face as well. The bell rang signaling that I had officially missed the beginning of class. Vlad silently handed me a small blue paper that I put in my pocket. I opened the door and led Vlad out into the waiting area of the office. Before I could go my separate way out the office door Vlad stopped me.  
"Have a good day son." My stomach twisted weirdly and flipped around at hearing what he had called me again. I croaked out a reply, despite the weird feeling in my stomach, to keep up appearances.

"You too Dad."

* * *

I patiently held the door open for a girl I had been walking down the hallway to class late with. She smiled and batted her eyelashes. I only gave her a half hearted grin. I wasn't really interested in any of the girls here. They were all really pretty, sure; but they were all really shallow too. I was still getting over the fact that Sam didn't like me. I wasn't Vlad; I could recognize the fact that Sam didn't love me. They had _both_ hidden behind my back. It wasn't just Tucker being an ass and hiding a relationship with a girl he knew I liked. Sam had hidden too.

Me and the girl I had opened the door for gave Mrs. Klienheksel our passes. She took them without stopping her lecture as we walked to our desks.

"I didn't get your papers done last night, but what I do have done so far are looking good. Some of the best I've seen from you guys." I grinned a little to myself when Mrs. Klienheksel specifically made eye contact with me. "What we're going to be doing next is reading Romeo and Juliet." There was a collective groan. We all knew it was coming. It was on the class syllabus and we had already asked what we were doing next, but it was still Shakespeare. "Oh common. It's not that bad. Before you know it it'll be over with anyway. Now get out your laptops. You might want to copy down some of the background notes I'm going over today. Some of this is going to be on the test." I took out my laptop with the rest of the class as Mrs. Klienheksel turned on the Data projector so she could show us the power point with the notes on it.

So classes went on like that. I copied notes in Comp Lit and attempted to do some of the problems in Pre-Calc. People would whisper and stare as I walked by. Some of them even getting up the courage to say "Hi" or "How's Jason". Nobody really tried to attach themselves to me anymore, and if they were stupid enough to try I would find a way to get them to back off. I didn't need a pose or a following that was disloyal and would turn on me the second someone offered them a chance. Finally, the bell rang for lunch. I walked past groups of whispering people towards the cafeteria; hewing out the details of my plan as I walked.

Okay, so maybe I had lied to Vlad about my 'plans' for Bill this morning. Well, at the time I hadn't lied. I didn't have any evidence against Bill _before_ Vlad told me what he did, and I hadn't exactly thought of a plan then either. Not to say that I wasn't already in the process of coming up with one. I did have a plan now though, sort of, but no matter what happened I was going to end up ruffling Bill's feathers with what I did next. And his feathers needed to be ruffled. I didn't want him getting the idea that messing with me was going to have zero consequences. It was only fair to warn him that if he kept trying to get to me, he was going to pay.

I walked up to the head waiter guy standing at his usual podium and told him my name.

"Dan Masters." The man looked up and gave me a grin of recognition. I don't know why but he seemed to like me for some reason.

"Alone again Mr. Masters?" I couldn't hold down a smirk.

"Actually I was hoping to change that today. Has Bill Ford already been seated?" he quickly dragged his finger down a list he had marked before he flipped the page and repeated the process.

"I believe not. Would you request that I bring him to your dining room?" I nodded.

"He and whoever he wants to bring with him, no more than what the room can seat though. I don't want to invite more people than I have a spot at the table for." The older man smiled again in that way that made me think there was something he knew that I didn't know he knew.

"John is here to seat you now. Good day Mr. Masters" I just smiled back anyway. As long as he wasn't doing anything to me I was going to ignore it. I followed a lanky guy with a maroon apron and a white oxford around tables and booths to my dining room. He opened the door and as usual there was another person waiting for me inside.

"Hi Gloria, you know you don't have to pull out my chair. Really I should be doing that sort of thing for you." Gloria shook her head and laughed slightly; pulling out my chair for me anyway.

"I'm just doing my job Mr. Masters. I don't think I've ever met anyone as insistent as you about that kind of thing." I unbuttoned my jacket like you were supposed to do when you sat down as Gloria pushed the chair in behind me. I rolled my eyes and commented back.

"You've obviously never met my Dad." Used to referring to Vlad as my Dad when he wasn't in the room by now, I didn't have any qualms about it. I had a pretty easy time getting over the weird feeling in my stomach when I did. Gloria was back at me with another remark as I put my briefcase under my chair.

"No I can't say that I've ever gotten to meet the richest man in the world. Is he really that bad?" I just snickered.

"How do you think _I _got this bad?" She openly laughed before she walked around to face me.

"Okay I see your point. Do you want a Coke as usual?" I nodded, but had to stop her when she went to leave.

"Wait! Could you stay for a minute? I'm going to have some guests with me today and I don't want you to have to make a million trips back and forth." Gloria gave me a curious look but nodded and stayed discreetly in the corner.

Then we were left to sit and wait for Bill to get here. Jazz would be disappointed that I didn't have time to talk to her today. I already sent her a message explaining why I wouldn't be online. Okay well it didn't give the completely real reason, but it was good enough for Jazz. I would miss talking to her too. She always had funny stories about her college roommates. It was always nice to see what she thought about my life. I told her about most stuff. She knew about my powers training with Vlad, my homework, and the thing with Bill. The only reason I wasn't giving her specifics on this little get together was because she would probably agree with me that it was a good idea to just talk to Bill before I tried any physical retaliation, and in the process of explaining why she agreed with me, she would change my mind.

I was snapped from my daydream when the door opened and in marched five people, two girls and three guys. I stood up like Vlad had taught me you were supposed to do when you welcomed guests. The guys were Bill, his friend from my first day here, and I guy I think I had met at one point or another. I didn't recognize the girls. One of them was relatively tall with her blond hair up in what looked like a painfully tight bun. The other was very small and timid. She walked like she was shoved around a lot. Bill chose the seat at the opposite end of the table from me. The other four filed in around him. The guy I recognized on Bill's right, the smaller girl on the left. The taller girl was one of the ones closest to me, on the other side of the guy next to Bill. The guy I thought I had met before was the other one closest to me, on the other side of the smaller girl. As they took their seats I took mine. Gloria came back into the light of the room.

"Hello my name is Gloria and I'll be serving you while you dine with Mr. Masters today. What can I get for you to drink?" I frowned when Bill answered as if Gloria was his subordinate. He didn't look up or acknowledge that Gloria was there.

"Pepsi." Gloria kept right on going despite Bill's behavior. The tinier girl with the brown hair went next.

"I'll have a Diet Sprite please." Then the other guys went, behaving a lot like Bill had.

"Mountain Due."

"Red Bull."The blond seemed to be of the same opinion as me about the way the boys had responded. She rolled her eyes and turned to face Gloria with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"I'll just have water, thank you." Gloria smiled happily back at the blond before she was off.

"I'll be back shortly to take your orders." Gloria walked out of the room and the door shut behind her with a click so subtle I was probably the only one who was able to hear it. I tried to sit like Vlad and look indifferent. I didn't really know how I was doing, but I was trying. There was a moment where Bill and I just stared at each other. When Bill did nothing I decided it was going to be up to me to get things rolling.

"Well I do believe Bill and I are already familiar with the other, but I don't think I have ever had the opportunity to properly meet the rest of you." The blond had a small grin on her face as she was the first to pounce on the opportunity to introduce herself.

"Ellyn Gates. Our Dads are rather at odds with each other I'm afraid." I raised my eyebrows and smirked. So this was Bill Gates' daughter. I had done my homework on Vlad's companies and I was on Gates side as far as disagreeing with Vlad's business ethics went. He had gone a little too far in manipulating his business partner from what I could understand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I was very well aware that our fathers disagreed. I must say I'm of the Gates' opinion in this business dispute. I believe my father went a little too far; he can be a very brutal man when he chooses." I really hated talking like this, but it was part of the image, and it helped with the whole 'looking smart' thing. It was hard to talk like this at first, but when you hang around Vlad a lot, it gets easier. Ellyn smiled as the guy next to her introduced himself.

"Adrian Brin. My father founded Google." I cordially nodded as a few things clicked into place in my head. That was how this guy had been able to get Vlad's office number when Bill asked for it, and how he had been able to stop the school clocks. He was obviously good with programming and software. He was probably a decent hacker. I welcomed him to my dining room too anyway.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He gave me a nod and the small girl introduced herself. I was thankful I had ghost hearing because I don't think I would've been able to hear her if I didn't.

"Emma Conant, my dad is the CEO of Campbell's soup." I smiled as warmly as I could to make her feel less intimidated. It seemed to work a little bit, I think. I don't really know she just kind of blushed anyway. I acknowledged her saying something.

"I imagine you don't get cold's very often? It's nice to meet you." She giggled very lightly. Finally the guy sitting beside her, that I had no clue about, introduced himself.

"Cem Kent, my dad is the CEO of Coca Cola." My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"You'll be happy to know that I ordered Coke then. Has your Dad ever considered an Apple flavored Pop?" Cem got a laughing smile on his face; probably not expecting the question about the apple flavor. Well I mean I had always wondered. I've seen apple cider, apple juice, why not apple pop?

"Yeah actually we already make one, in the Fanta line. It's just not very popular here in the States. They love it in Mexico though." I smiled laughingly back. I decided I liked this guy. His light brown hair was sort of spiked up in the front and the way he wore his suit, it wasn't against dress code or anything, but it was like he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He seemed like the guy who didn't always go with the flow.

"I'll have to see if I can get my hands on some. I've never seen any." With the unexpected turn in conversation Ellyn and Emma had turned to smiles as well. Adrian just looked uncertainly amused and Bill continued to look flat out pissed off. Cem responded to my comment.

"I'm not surprised. You'll probably have to special order some." I leaned back in my chair and smiled as Bill only fumed. I was probably because I was getting on so well with, I was assuming, his best friends.

"That won't be a problem for me. I'm sure Dad won't mind." Everyone besides Bill nodded slightly and moved to looking around the room or down at the table and their silverware. Really just to piss Bill off, I was going to see how far I could make this 'casual conversation' go before he exploded and asked why I had really invited him here.

"You all probably know by now, but I myself have had a rather hectic day. How have yours been going?" Emma seemed to have gotten a little bit of confidence from me and Cem's weird conversation. She was the one who responded, this time loud enough for everyone to hear.

"My day has been pretty average-"

"Emma." Bill didn't shout but his glare at Emma said that he wanted to. She immediately shrunk back into herself and turned a beet red. I looked 'disapprovingly' at Bill while he turned to me. Wow he didn't last long did he?

"Listen kid, I'm not here so I can listen to your little act. What did you want to see me for?" As Bill spoke I heard the click of the door opening. Gloria walked in on Bill losing it; carrying a black tray with six drinks on it. She coughed slightly to make her presence known before she moved forward to give us all our drinks. I wanted to laugh as Bill flushed and leaned back in his chair. We all were silent as Gloria did her thing. She went around the table so that she got to me last. When she did give me my drink she bent down slightly so that I was the only one who could see her lips move as she whispered.

"Is everything going alright? I can come back more frequently for refills if you want me to." I only knowingly smiled as I whispered back.

"Everything is going exactly as I planned it to. Actually it would probably be best if you gave a little knock before you or anyone else came in, and we were disturbed as little as possible." Gloria gave me a 'you're crazy' look but nodded as she stood back up fully to take our orders.

"Mr. Masters what would you like to eat today?" I turned to smile at her.

"I'll have a Cheeseburger, medium well, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, a side of fries and ketchup for dipping please." Gloria shook her head obviously amused with something as she wrote notes down and moved around the table starting with Ellyn.

"I'll have a chicken salad with Italian dressing." Adrian was next.

"Fettuccini Alfredo" then Bill

"A half rack of Ribs and a baked potato with sour cream butter and ranch." Then Emma

"I'll just have some chicken tenders please." Then Cem

"Two slices of pepperoni pizza will work for today."Gloria finished taking notes and looked up around the table at us all.

"Alright I'll have that in as soon as I can and be back shortly." Gloria gave one last glance to me and I only smiled mischievously back at her. She just shook her head. The door quietly clicked shut again. As soon as we were alone again Bill didn't hesitate to get right to the point.

"Why did you invite me here?" I just shrugged my shoulders and readjusted myself in my chair to look conversational.

"I think we got started off on the wrong foot. I'm just trying to see if we can't get along better. It seems to me like you are still harboring some unnecessary hostility and I would like to get it out in the open." What I had just said was complete bull shit. Well most of it, the part about getting to why he hated me, that was the part I was really concerned about. Bill just gave me a calculating stare for a minute while I sipped my Coke.

"I don't believe you." I raised a skeptical eyebrow and brought my cup down from my face to respond.

"Believe what you want. I'm just here to have a friendly lunch and hopefully come to terms with whatever you seem to be so upset about." Bill just continued to glare. There was an awkward silence where Bill's friends just looked back and forth between the two of us. I put my drink down on the table again and decided it was once again going to be up to me to get things going. I didn't have the kind of patience Vlad had, I was going to get things started.

"So," I looked to the four people Bill had come with him, opening up what I was about to ask to them too, "What is it that I seem to have done to inspire your dislike?" The four of them looked to Bill who was just glaring in silence and then back to me who was waiting for a reply. Finally Cem decided to say something.

"Well it's really more like what you haven't done."

"Cem." Bill spat out Cem's name in exasperation, like he was supposed to know that talking to me was forbidden. Ellyn sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Bill, really? Dan doesn't even know why we hate him, and it's not like he has a history of any of us so it would be easy to figure out. We might as well give the ignorant a chance to educate themselves." I raised an eyebrow at being called ignorant, but let it go. I guess that's really one way to put it. Bill glared at Ellyn, though she didn't seem to be as affected as the others had been when he did so.

"Ellyn I'm not going to argue with you right now." Ellyn smirked as she responded.

"Good, then you won't stop me when I tell Dan why we all hate him so much." Bill was about to open his mouth but stopped and growled when Ellyn obviously turned to face me. She spoke as if she were explaining some math problem that I didn't understand.

"Really it's exactly like Cem said. It's what you haven't done. You see the five of us," She motioned to her 'friends', I really wasn't sure that's what they were anymore, "are the elite. We get whatever we want whenever we want it because we run this school. We had to fight to get to where we are. All of us did." I slowly nodded and leaned back in my chair a little bit. Ellyn stopped at seeing me nod. I looked to them skeptically as I said what I thought they were saying.

"So, the reason you don't like me is because the minute it was made clear I wasn't a fake, everyone started sucking up to me and giving me whatever I wanted? If you ask me, that's really rather unfair of you. I never asked to be treated like this. All I did was show up." Bill scoffed as he responded.

"Yes that's exactly why you don't think your good enough to sit with anyone else, and why you think you're so much better because you hold doors for people. Don't tell me-" I heard a small knock at the door and stopped Bill in mid sentence by holding up my hand. Bill looked at me like he was going to rip my head off before he looked to the door and saw Gloria had come in with another person, both of them carrying our food. Once again the room became silent as Gloria and the other waitress gave us our food. Once we all had what we ordered Gloria stepped back and asked us if we needed anything.

"Does everything look okay? Is there anything else I can get for you?" I shook my head as I answered for everyone.

"Nope, Gloria, everything looks great. I don't think we'll be needing anything for a while." Gloria looked to Bill who was trying to hide the fact that he was furious and failing, before she looked back to me.

"Alright then Mr. Masters I'll be back in about twenty minutes to check up on you." I nodded and smiled as Gloria walked out the door.

"Thank you Gloria." She shook her head again as the door clicked shut. Almost like a cue Bill started ranting again. I just picked up my burger and started eating when it was obvious he was going to be talking for a while.

"Things like that! You have no right to act like you have money. What you are, is a poser. If we let you come in here and act like that, people are going to disregard everything we've worked our tails off for. You can't keep doing this. You are going to have to prove your worth peoples respect just like we did. I'm not going to let some suburban kid who doesn't know anything about business, walk around like he does. I'm not going to let some hillbilly, who just happens to have miraculously come into a massive fortune because some freakish, insane, idiot trillionare decided he needed an heir, pretend he's one of us!" I swallowed and froze when Bill insulted Vlad. Blood surged to my limbs and a fire was ignited inside my stomach. Instantly I dropped my 'friendly' act and my eyes became hard as steel. I had to stop myself from getting up and punching Bill in the face. He did _not_ just insult Vlad like that. If there was anything Vlad wasn't, it was freakish, stupid, or insane. I was not going to let some idiot who thought he ran the world suggest that Vlad was a freak.

Vlad didn't knock people out because they unexpectedly said 'boo', Vlad didn't live under delusions that his family would always love him and that the world was fair and just. This little piece of shit had no right to accuse Vlad of any of those things. I didn't realize it, but I was reacting as if Bill had just insulted one of the people I cared about most. I closed my eyes and concentrated on keeping them blue. Deliberately I set down my burger and pushed the plate away from the edge from the table.

"Do not ever, insult my father again." I opened my eyes to glare harshly at Bill, he faltered at my sudden change in demeanor but quickly got over it and smirked, obviously proud he had finally gotten under my skin. He replied to my command, now very cocky and sure of himself.

"Why shouldn't I insult Vlad? It's his fault I have to deal with you in the first place. He screwed you up and made you think that now you can be a different person just because now you've got money. It's his fault you're here." I clenched my fists and shut my eyes again. He did not just say that my problems were Vlad's fault. For once Vlad was the answer to my problems. How dare this know-it-all little prick insult Vlad when he knew nothing. Vlad was the reason I had a place to sleep, food to eat, a life to look forward to living. It was because of Vlad that I had a second chance. Vlad was the person who cared when no one else was there. I couldn't handle this anymore; I was done dealing with this creep.

"I don't think you realize who you are dealing with _William_. If you think that I will submit simply because you manage to capture a moment of humiliation, you are more of an idiot than I thought." I didn't smirk when Bill realized I knew he had set me up. I was past the point of smirking. This was not a game anymore.

"Do not underestimate me. I can do things to you that you can't even fathom. I have resources you don't even know exist. Unlike you, I don't need the help of others to beat the living shit out of you, your dignity, or you future career. If you have even a fraction of a brain you will leave me alone and stop your pathetic attempts to make sure I earn my respect. Unlike you, William, not everything was handed to me my entire life. I know how to play this game better than you, and if you are so stupid as to challenge me, I will win." I reached under my chair to grab my briefcase and stood up. "You so much as lay a finger on Jason Lurie and you will see the consequences of defying a Masters. Do not ever insult my father again or I will make you regret the moment you met me in the most painful way possible." I used my free hand to button my jacket and when I was finished I looked back up.

"You are all welcome to finish your meals here if you please. I believe I will be leaving." I silently glided to the door, making absolutely no noise. My ghost half had seeped through where it could to my human one in my anger. As I turned to shut the door behind me I said only one thing.

"Goodbye."


	33. Chapter 33: The Office

AN:/ Wow this turned out to be a long one. anyway, I hope you like it! think of it as a belated Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanuka/new years present! Okay now I have to remember what i was going to tell you guys. I always do this! I think of something to put in an Authors note and then I totally blank! I should start writing this stuff down. let's see... Okay here's one! If you are going to point out something that needs correcting please leave a signed review so I can thank you properly, and apologize for your brother making fun of you! I totally know how that goes! Really though, please sign in. what's next? I know I had a couple of things... OH! I am working on drawing every OC that I have thrown into this story for you guys. It's ironic, really, because I don't like OC's but so many of them have been necessary in this story. I wanted to draw them all for you guys just to give you a picture. Sometimes I know my descriptions aren't the greatest. maybe I'll draw some settings too. On another note, Pearl asked me a while ago how long I thought this was going to be and I said we were about halfway done. Recently I have found myself contradicting that statement. i have no freaking clue how long this thing is going to be. Absolutely none. I can't really think of anything else so i guess I'll leave it at that. Happy reading!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 33: The Office

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, January 2, 2011, 7:05PM_

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**IMPORTANT:** At the end of "Boxed up Fury" Danny is sitting with Pandora watching the Box Ghost work. Danny then picks up a rake and gives it to the Box Ghost by encasing it with ecto-energy and moving it by manipulating it that way. I did not just make up that ability out of the blue, you can go and watch Boxed up Fury to check. I hate it when people just make up powers for Danny willy nilly. I am extending this same ability to move things without toughing them to Vlad. Because that seems logical to me. That's all i have to say.

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**Vlad's POV**

Before we could make another turn I grabbed for the bottle of aspirin in the cabinet across from me. This new driver obviously had absolutely no clue how to drive a limo, and didn't comprehend that there were an extra ten feet of vehicle to account for. I wasn't going to chance spilling something on my suit and pour myself a glass of wine to wash down the aspirin; instead I just phased them directly into my stomach.

I couldn't remember when I had had another driver besides Clinton, but I was not enjoying the creation of these new memories. The only reason I wasn't ridding with Clinton right now was because Daniel needed him. Quite frankly there wasn't anyone else I trusted to get Daniel back and forth safely to school every day. Clinton was the best of the best. Whatever vehicle he stepped into seemed to bend to his every whim. I had checked several times to see if he wasn't a ghost with some power over motorized transportation, but he was not. I had never found anyone better, and judging by the last thirty four drivers I had gone through to replace Clinton now that he had started driving Daniel, I wasn't going to.

Mercifully we came to a stop outside the main corporate building. I sighed in relief as I gained back my equilibrium. Before the driver could get around to opening the door I summoned my brief case to me from the opposite end of the limo by encasing it in my ecto energy; the brief case having maneuvered itself to the opposite end of the limo through the course of the ride. The door I would be exiting out of opened. I didn't hesitate to deposit my briefcase in the outstretched hand just outside the door. Before I got out of the car I reached back and found a pair of sunglasses, and put them on. Besides the fact that my eyes were sensitive to begin with, the flashing of cameras was extremely irritating without them. All too eager to get out of this carnival ride I stepped out onto the sidewalk and the bustling city streets when I deemed myself sufficiently prepared.

As it was every morning, my path to the front doors of the building was roped off. Cameras immediately started flashing as soon as I stepped out of the vehicle. The crowd consisted mostly of tourists, though there were reporters occasionally; if there was a scandal to be reported about. There was a lot of shouting and people trying to get my attention, usually they failed miserably. If they thought I was going to pay special attention to them because they could shout my name the loudest they were pathetically mistaken. People were terribly un-creative when it came to this sort of thing. Occasionally there was the odd soul who would wise up; if not in the most idiotic way possible. Bizarre costumes, people on stilts, streaking, water balloons, air horns, mega phones, flat out shrieking, it's all been done before. There have been a number of occasions with guns involved, but those tended to end rather quickly thanks to the security that I had in place. Anyone even remotely suspected of carrying a weapon for such purposes was taken out of the crowd.

Today, however, was going rather as expected. Quite used to operating around a crowd I turned to receive my briefcase from the man who had _attempted_ to properly drive me here. He seemed like a scared rodent as his face got red and he adopted an oily sheen. The driver, whose name I had neglected to care to remember, asked me a question as I took my brief case.

"When should I come back to pick you up?" He winced when every so often a woman in the crowd would scream without restraint. I turned to walk towards the building as I simply responded.

"Don't."

" E-excuse me, I don't understand?" I growled at being held up and turned to make sure he got the message.

"You asked when you should be back to pick me up, and I said not to pick me up at all. You will take this limo to the garage and leave it there, if you can manage that without injuring yourself. You will not be picking me up or driving me anywhere today or any day after." I turned again to leave before I was interrupted once more. My fingers tightened around the handle of my briefcase.

"Does that mean I'm f-fired?" I turned and walked stiffly up to the man who seemed to lack even the most basic of brain functions. He started to sweat as my shadow fell over his face.

"No, it means that I'm going to pay you to sit in a room somewhere and do absolutely nothing. Yes this means you're fired! Now get out of my sight before I decide to do more than just fire you!" The small thin man squeaked and scrambled away to the driver's side of the limo. I didn't wait to see if my limo was going to make it to the garage intact, opting to finally make my way to the door. A waiting guard opened and then closed said door behind me.

Blissfully the noise fell away as the doors sealed shut. The main level of the office building was rather elegant; the ceiling resting several stories above the floor. A large fountain was in the center as a wall of tinted glass windows let in the light to sparkle over the water. The fountain and floors were made of an expensive black marble. Dark green foliage was placed strategically through the space to give it a more lively feeling. I indifferently walked past it all towards the three large, gold plated elevators against the back wall. I moved forwards and attached myself to the back of a crowd who was loading themselves onto the middle elevator. After I was the last one on, I pushed a button that would close the doors in front of me along with the button for level five.

It was disturbingly quite in the elevator as soon as everyone had realized who exactly was in it with them. I didn't mind, I preferred the silence over people's attempts to impress me in some way. It was amusing; all anyone ever tried to do was impress me, as if my approval was all that stood between them and becoming a millionaire.

The elevator quickly made it to the fifth floor. No one had dared to impede my commute by hitting a button below level five so that we would have to stop before I reached my destination. Even though I knew for a fact several of the people on the lift worked on levels three and four.

Myself and two others exited the elevator. While the other two headed to the left, towards a maze of cubicles; I headed right, towards the staircase. I hadn't made it to the top of the building yet, oh no. My office was on level twenty three. I only ever rode the elevator up to level five because I found that any longer in an enclosed space with people who work for you and are trying to impress you, and they will inevitably try to make some sort of friendly, irrelevant conversation. That, and nobody used the staircase past the fifth floor, so I would not be seen as I made my ascent.

I walked up about seven steps of the empty stair case before I quickly morphed to my ghost half and shot through thirteen more floors. What, you didn't believe I was going to walk up all those stairs did you? I made it to the topmost floor of the building and landed halfway down the last flight of stairs to morph back to my human half. I walked up seven more steps and opened the door to the main area of the top floor.

Mine was the only office on this floor. Besides my office there was a bathroom, a conference room, a small kitchen, elevator doors, and a main area in the middle that connected everything. It was also where my secretary sat and did her work, fielding any visitors before they could simply waltz into my office. My secretary Helena dropped everything she was doing when I opened the door.

"Good morning Mr. Masters. I've already got all of the paperwork for the annual reviews you need to read and sign sorted into piles on your desk. As a plus you don't have any meetings with any other companies today. Also, Wayne Teagarden from DALV advertisement requested an audience with you again this afternoon." I halted in my approach towards my office and sighed. What was it that the blasted idiot wanted now? Helena was quick to inform me upon seeing me stop.

"He wanted to talk to you about re-doing the company logo again." I rolled my eyes. That would be the fifth time the imbecile had tried to get an audience with me this month. Very well then, I might as well tell this man myself that I was not going to negotiate. I turned to face Helena.

"Call him up and tell him I will see him from 1:00 to 1:30. If he can't make it, then I don't want him complaining to my office again, or I will have him fired." Used to my brutality, Helena only nodded and picked up the phone. I was then allowed to make it the rest of the way to my office. I turned and was about to close the door behind me before I glimpsed Helena, diligently multitasking as she called up Mr. Teagarden.

"Helena." She immediately halted in everything she was doing to look at me, slightly concerned.

"Yes Mr. Masters?" I gave her a sly smile.

"Good morning." She gave me a skeptical bemused smile and before she could respond I closed the door behind me.

I stood facing the large window that was the opposite wall for a moment and took a breath. I moved to take off my suit jacket and hang it on the coat rack in the right corner behind my desk. As I set my suit case down beside my desk I took the time to just sit before I got to work.

My office might not have been what you'd expect. I was often asked where the pictures of my family or friends were, for there was not one to be seen. There were not any plants or works of art on my walls. Though they were not completely bare; the walls themselves were a light sage green. From my vantage point at my desk, the wall to the left was covered floor to ceiling with an arrangement of shelves, each shelf containing tasteful souvenirs from whichever country.

Directly in front of me was the door to my office. On either side of the door were elegantly framed copies of my various diplomas and certificates, all eleven of them arranged in a neat row. On the wall to my right was a dark wood storage unit, taking up about two thirds of the wall that I used to sort and store important files. Next to said storage unit was a matching bookcase containing books I might use to fill my time on the days I had nothing in particular to do. Directly in front of my desk were two chairs to be used by anyone who had requested an audience with me for whatever inane reason.

My desk itself was made of red wood, extremely expensive. Very sturdily made it weighs 437 pounds elaborately carved and adorned. A glass panel was positioned over the actual top of the desk to help preserve it. A place to put a cup of coffee was in the upper right corner. In the left corner were a Newton's cradle and a gyroscope for when I merely felt like doing nothing; they also served as simply being classic executive decorations.

I had neglected to purchase a computer. I did have a laptop stowed away in my filing cabinet somewhere; on the off chance there was some work I needed to do that required one, but that was a rare occasion. The things people here needed me for didn't happen over the computer; if they needed me for anything other than my signature. To be frank it wasn't necessary that I come to the office anymore; it hadn't been for years now. However I choose to regardless. What else was I going to do with my time? I was not completely insane; I did not desire to be stowed away in that blasted mansion 24/7. I needed to do _something._

Really I had not been thinking when made my first millions. It was so easy to climb to the top if you were going to cheat your way there. I hadn't thought about what I was going to do once I got to the top and there was nowhere else to go. Once you're at the top you get to sit on your hands and aspire to virtually nothing. I _could_ do things like try to monopolize the entire economy _legally_, something like that could present a challenge; but really that would be counterproductive. When you take competition out of the equation things in the business world become much blander and monotonous.

Taking in a large lungful of air I looked out the large wall sized window behind me, and over the city. I do like my job, despite what others may think. I like the authority, being in control, the orderly predictable manner of things. I suppose a career in politics could hold similar qualities; though I have no desire to be an object of the people. Constantly struggling to gain public acceptance and approval; that was something I absolutely did not want to do. I could care less about what people thought of me as a person. Does it matter what type of a person you are if you can get things done? I myself would rather have a complete jerk in charge that knows what he's doing, instead of a person I could get along with that didn't have a clue. That is the beauty of the business industry. You can be a completely malcontent person and no one will care as long as you are making money. That is how the industry functions and that is why the people at the top are so callous.

I shifted slightly in my chair, crossing my legs and moving my arm so that I could prop it up on the arm rest and set my head on my hand.

Yes, I suppose it wasn't a concern to _me_ if I was liked, or if others were behaving with chivalry and common courtesy. But as it was with almost every thought that crossed my mind the past twenty two days, I wondered if that sort of hostility is what would be best suited for Daniel.

I had pondered many times about why I had thought Daniel a suitable predecessor to my position. At points it seemed he was utterly unfit to function in the business world. Daniel was noble to a fault. He never cheated, never lied, and never betrayed a person's loyalty. He was glued permanently to his morals and would never stray from his code of ethics. Daniel cared about the people around him despite all he had been through to prove that they did not care the least about him. It seemed there was some deeply engrained instinct in the boy to help his fellow man. The trait, if gone unchecked, could grant him a very vicious downfall in my particular line of work.

Then there were the times that I believed he was the only person that would be fit for the job. The boy had the potential to be quite ruthless. He had demonstrated to me as much, especially within the time he'd lived with me. If we were simply looking at the short period of time he had occupied my mansion I would say he was quite ready to take on the business industry. The boy had cunning and wit that were only matched by myself. He was much smarter and cleverer than he let his enemies know. He was creative in the use of his resources and never failed to impress me with his innovation. It was this side of the boy that would make him absolutely appropriate to take on my career.

No, the boy had what it took to take on my position. The difficulty for Daniel was going to be training him into the right mind set. I don't know why or how, but Daniel seemed to think that the only time it was acceptable to 'win' was when it was absolutely necessary. The rest of the time he supposed it was better to act the victim and be walked upon like some inexpensive rug.

In the past he had let characters such as Dash Baxter get away with tormenting him, simply because it wasn't necessary to him that they be stopped. He had allowed Ms. Valerie Grey to fruitlessly hunt him, though he could have easily rendered her inoperative and gotten her out of his hair. Daniel, it seemed, had completely disabled his impulse to fight for his own vindication and would only act if _others_ were in harm's way.

Though I suppose this too has changed, even within the short time he has been with me. In his tussles with William Ford, it seems he is learning to allow himself to fight back. Perhaps now that he has no one to act as a shield for, his only option left is to shield himself, as he should have been all along. If Daniel could continue to learn that it is appropriate to defend himself in situations where only _he_ is threatened; if he could learn that it is okay to fight back in scenarios where he needs to protect _just_ himself, I have no doubt Daniel could handle taking my place. He could handle my job and so much more.

After that it would only be a matter of convincing him to take up my offer. I sighed and eyed the stacks of paperwork on the desk behind me, a particular sentence Daniel had said coming to the front of my mind.

"_Um Vlad, you really aren't making your offer of taking over your companies more appealing by mentioning all this paperwork all the time."_

The boy had been right of course. I really had not focused any efforts on making my profession appealing in any way. Though a majority of what I did here at the office and at home _was_ sign various papers and read proposals or reports.

However, there was going to be paperwork in whatever profession the boy chose, the trick was going to be highlighting the perks. A smirk curled onto my face as I made two duplicates. I could have an amount of fun scheming for this particular purpose. The two duplicates I had made only skeptically matched my devious smile as they took their share of the paperwork to be completed. They each created a small shield of ecto energy about the size of a clip board to be used as a writing surface. I would be done with this brain rotting task soon enough with the help of two invisible duplicates sitting in the spare chairs directly in front of me. If anyone would have walked in, they would have only seen one of me, sitting behind a desk; completely unaware that I was getting three times as much work done as a normal person could have.

* * *

I glanced back to the cell phone I had taken out of my pocket and set on the desk. I was just waiting for it to ring. I know that just because Daniel had a cell phone, didn't mean he had a reason to use it. That didn't stop me from anticipating anything, however. I was sure the boy was oblivious of the fact, but his laptop and his cell phone both had ghost detection devices in them that would immediately alert me if anything containing ectoplasm came within one hundred yards, this was obviously discounting me and Daniel. I had programmed it to ignore our energy signatures. Daniel was a virtual ghost magnet when he had lived back in Amity and that would require me to be his ghost repellent when he lived with here.

As soon as he had stumbled to my front porch I intended to provide him with much needed protection; both inside and outside my mansion. The teen clearly needed a break, a chance to let go. The only way I was going to get him to relax from his paranoid state was if the reason for the paranoia was removed. In Amity there had been valid reason for him to be so jumpy and mistrustful of his surroundings. As idiotic, unhealthy, and unnecessary the reason had been, it was valid. It was going to take time, but the boy would slowly learn to be less anxious.

I used my ghost powers in front of the teen as frequently as possible and for the most mundane of purposes just for this reason. While at first he had reacted rather over dramatically to even the slightest hint of anything ghostly related, he was now learning to restrain himself and think twice. I could do small things with my powers now, without him recoiling in suspicion or snapping into 'battle mode' as he called it. Things like phasing through doors and moving objects by encasing them with energy were mostly met with little to no resistance. Larger displays of power however, mostly anything more advanced than going completely invisible, would set him off. I often withheld demonstrating anything for the boy when I was teaching him something new about his powers; simply because whenever I turned back around to see if he understood, he would be in an obvious battle stance in the farthest corner of the room with a specific glaze over his eyes.

It was why I had been so against Daniel going into the Ghost Zone as well. For him to enter would be working against everything I had been working on with the boy. However I had been pleasantly surprised with his behavior. That whole experience actually was probably for the better. Besides adding a few valuable resources to my allies list; it became clear after watching him with his ghostly allies that it wasn't just ghosts in general that set him off. It was anything that he identified as an 'enemy' or a 'threat'. It also explained how Daniel had so reflexively and unthinkingly hit Mr. Lurie. As soon as Mr. Lurie opened his mouth and Daniel did not recognize the voice sneaking up on him, he had been classified as a 'threat'.

I rubbed my temples as I recollected the conversation that had been had over that particular event last evening.

"_Vlad I knocked a kid out because he said 'boo'. That doesn't seem wrong to you? You don't find that strange or creepy in any way? Because if you don't I am going to question your judgment."I sighed as the boy stared at me; daring me to contradict him and his statement._

"_Yes Daniel, it's uncommon for a person to lose consciousness due to the fact that they were trying to sneak up on another person and that person overreacted. However," I held up my hand to stop the boy from undoubtedly confirming that he was right. Daniel only stubbornly dropped his shoulders and glared at me, allowing me to continue, "what happened is still not your fault." Daniel, this time, started speaking too quickly for me to have stopped him._

"_How is it _not _my fault? It was my fist, my reaction, my stupid reflexes.-"_

"_Daniel would you listen to me for two blasted minutes!"Upon hearing my voice rise the teen's face lost a small amount of color, and he immediately fell silent. My face dropped at seeing I had frightened the teen unintentionally. I went to sit down on a nearby couch, putting myself in a less aggressive position to show him I was not going to do anything rash. I then calmly tried to explain to him what I meant._

"_Daniel, I understand that you think you are at fault for this, and as far as immediate conviction goes, you are."I paused as Daniel, now slightly curious, came to sit on the couch that faced mine. The pause in my speech, caused by my following his movement, prompted him to say something._

"_You've still got about a minute and forty five seconds left." The teen's wit only brought forth a small grin to my face._

"_Daniel, you and I both know that the reason you are so upset about this is not only because of the physical damage you have done. You are angry at yourself because you responded to the situation as you should have, had you been threatened by a ghostly adversary." I paused to look at the teen. He only sheepishly looked to his lap avoiding looking at anything else. "Your experience over the last two years has taught you to react in such a way, and rightfully so. Such an explosive reaction has most likely saved you in more than one unfortunate situation. Because of this, the instinct to fight back at the slightest hint of a threat has been thoroughly engrained into your head. That habit, that instinct, to fight back is not going to go away because the threat goes away. It is going to take time Daniel, but eventually you will learn that not every sound is the sound of an enemy approaching." I continued to try to make eye contact with the teen until he finally brought his gaze uncertainly up to mine. What he would say next would be something I had not anticipated in the slightest._

"_The thing is Vlad, you're right. The outrageous reactions I have to the tiniest sounds, they have saved my butt more times than I can remember. I specifically trained myself that way so that I would get hit less. I made sure I was aware of everything around me all the time so that myself and others could be safer. But what if I relax for just a second and that happens to be the second that I should have been paying attention? It only takes a second Vlad, not even a second, for everything to go completely wrong. I don't want to un-learn how to react like I do. I don't want to be at that disadvantage again. What if I need to fight like that? I don't want to lose a skill that I know will help me." I stared at the boy in front of me for a moment; a boy who was so haunted by what he experienced for the past two years of his life that he was afraid to let go of his paranoia. I leaned forward to better reassure the teen._

"_Daniel, just because you don't explode at every little unexpected noise, doesn't mean you will be less of a fighter. You aren't going to lose anything if you learn to tailor your reactions to suit your surroundings." I looked almost pleadingly to the boy, willing him to understand that he was going to be perfectly fine if he let his guard down. He only avoided my gaze, still convinced that he would be at a disadvantage if he went along with what I was trying to say. I sighed and tried to explain in simpler terms what exactly I meant. He needed to understand that it was okay to let go of his anxiety._

"_Daniel, I want you to think of your mind like a light switch for a moment." I looked at the teen, expecting some comment about how what I had just said made no sense. However, he was past the point of questioning what I was talking about; he only nodded slightly to let me continue. Concerned the teen was so accepting of what I said, I tried to be a little less dire about how I delivered my analogy. "When your 'switch' is on, everything is lit and you can clearly interpret everything around you. You become extremely alert, you are ready for battle, and you have put yourself in that mind set. When your switch is off, everything is dark. You are relaxed, you can let your mind wander and you can let go of your worries for a short period of time." I paused for a moment to make sure the teen understood what I was saying. He only nodded to me slightly, encouraging me to continue. "Any working light switch can easily go from on to off without much of a problem. Most people's switches remain off until a situation arises that it needs to be on. This is not the case for you." I paused again and let the understanding that was starting to dawn on his face take hold. "For the past two years Daniel, your switch has not been allowed to return to its off position. You have constantly been in some situation where you needed to be alert and aware. There may have been periods of time where your switch had started making its way to 'off' but it has never been allowed to completely make it there before it had to go back to 'on'. Your switch Daniel, has been on for so long that it has forgotten how to go to 'off' again." I could clearly see now that Daniel understood. His face was solemn and he remained silent as he looked to me to continue. "What I am going to try to help you do, is learn to flip your switch back to 'off'. I'm not suggesting that we leave it permanently in the off position. I would only like to help you recognize that it doesn't have to be left on, all the time." I finished with my spiel and leaned back on the couch, waiting for what the teen would say next. He only sat silently for a moment before his mood seemed to shift. I lifted an eyebrow skeptically when I recognized the sarcastic quality in his voice._

"_Can't we just switch to a florescent light bulb? That way we could still leave it on all the time and we would be using about the same amount of energy as a regular light bulb if we were switching it on and off. Plus florescent light bulbs are supposed to be brighter anyway." I lightly chuckled at the teen. I would never get tired of his comebacks._

"_I'm afraid they don't sell fluorescents in the size we would need to light your rather large head." _

"_Hey!" I openly laughed at the teen as he feigned being mad at what I had just said._

Yes Daniel would get better, if not slowly. A larger part of that happening however, would rely on the fact that there were no ghosts around to surprise or attack him. That responsibility would fall to me. Though if ghosts knew that Daniel was now under my protection, then I suspected that things, as far as ghosts went, would continue as they had been so far; quiet and peaceful. I paused to look to my cell phone once more on my desk; though that had never stopped me from being too careful before.

I picked up the phone and checked it to make sure that I hadn't missed anything. I never knew with all of this new technology. There were times I completely missed calls because I could have sworn the phone had never made a sound. I clicked a button on the side so that the screen on the front lit up. No, I hadn't missed anything. It was 10:32 though. I suppose it was about time that I got started on my rounds. It would take about an hour and a half to get them done before lunch if I was being quick about it.

I took my wallet out of my back pocket as I set it and the phone down on the desk. Without much thought I created a duplicate to take my place while I was out of sight elsewhere. I stood up out of my chair and morphed to my ghostly counterpart. Without prompting my duplicate sat down where I had been and resumed looking like I was there and had nothing better to do. I would leave the cell phone here and if it rang my duplicate would be able to contact me via telepathic link. We were the same person after all. I picked up the wallet I had taken out of my back pocket before I morphed and took out about ten, hundred dollar bills.

Indifferently I tucked them into the cuff of my left glove until I would need them later. Quickly I turned intangible and invisible, and sunk through twenty three levels of office building. I liked to work my way up, as it were.

It was rather hysterical to listen to all of the office gossip that people talked about while I "wasn't there". There were quite a few old rumors around that stated the building was haunted. People outside of Amity Park tended to be rather oblivious to anything ghost related, so most didn't believe that ghosts even existed. There were a supersticous few who believed, along with a few who had had their very own "ghostly encounters" right here in the office.

I arrived at the ground floor and started making my way around.

This time of day the lobby was rather vacant. Everyone had already arrived and made their way to their respective locations. The odd soul would wander from the main doors to the elevator. I silently followed a young woman as she made her way from the elevator to the front doors. She was talking rather urgently on her cell phone and looked rather like she was leaving. Really this was no time to be doing so. I decided to listen in on her conversation to see if this was something I should help or hinder.

"Are you sure, you can't stick it out the rest of the day? You know I can't leave work unless its necessary sweetie, I just need to make sure this is an emergency." My acute hearing in my ghost form allowed me to clearly hear the other side of the conversation.

"_Uh huh, I feel really hot and I feel like I'm gonna…" _The little boy at the other end of the line, he couldn't have been older than seven, trailed off before he could finish his sentence. The young lady I had been following abruptly stopped.

"Matt, Matt are you okay?" A frown fell onto my face. That silence could not have been good news. The young woman I was tailing let a shred of the panic she was undoubtedly feeling show on her face. Finally a new voice answered her pleas; most likely the teacher or whomever had been supervising the child on the other end of the line.

"_Mrs. Lundy I'm sorry, I'm going to have to let you go, Matt just bolted off towards the bathroom. Could you come to pick him up? I don't think he should stay here the rest of the day." _The young woman, whom I could now refer to as Mrs. Lundy, started moving again; faster than I thought was possible in the heels she was wearing. I copied her actions and followed her to the door.

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm walking out the door of the office as we speak. Just make sure he's okay until I get there." Mrs. Lundy pushed one of the glass doors open with her back as she maneuvered her way outside.

"_We'll have him ready for you." _

"Thanks, bye."

"_Bye."_ There was an overdramatic clatter as Mrs. Lundy's cell phone abruptly jumped out of her hand and fell to the sidewalk. The person who had run into her had not even glanced back to see what the damage was. I watched, several people passing indifferently through me as I stood intangible in the middle of the sidewalk, as Mrs. Lundy went for her phone. Yet another person conversing on their own cell phone bumped into Mrs. Lundy; this person not having noticed her because she had been crouched down to the pavement.

"Watch it!" The man only spared a moment to turn and yell at Mrs. Lundy who had now been bumped to her hands and knees. I felt a flare of annoyance at the man's actions. That was no way to treat a lady. I silently fell to the cement bellow me and sent a strong current through the sidewalk to give the man a good jolt. The man let out a short yelp as he jumped; everyone around him just gave him a brief curious look before continuing on. The man himself only took a small moment to ponder over the occurrence before he took shook it off and continued moving.

My attention fell back to the young woman who had managed to pick up her cell phone and was fiddling with it as she attempted to move down the sidewalk, without much success. She was like a salmon swimming up stream. People continued to violently brush into her and push her what way they would.

Angrily I stepped forward through the flow of people to stand beside the woman. Now instead of sending a current through the sidewalk for a specific person I created a circle around Mrs. Lundy, quite like an electric fence, so that anyone that tried to get within three feet would receive a nasty shock and jump back out of the way in surprise and bafflement.

Her travel now largely unimpeded, Mrs. Lundy walked quickly forward towards the parking garage, not taking any notice to the strange looks others were giving her. Her attention was entirely focused on the scratched and barely functioning phone in her hands. When it had fallen the battery had popped out and the screen had spider webbed, making it impossible to decipher anything that was displayed on the screen once she had put the battery back in. She seemed to hopelessly sigh before she gave up and stuffed the whole mess into her purse, which was slung over her shoulder.

As I closely trailed the worried mother I gave a mental sigh. I was walking so close that if I had been tangible I would have tripped on her heals quite a few times by now. I gave one last look to her now slightly disheveled hair and torn nylons before I decided this was as good a candidate as any. We were almost to the parking garage where she would not need my help to travel without mishaps.

I reached to the cuff of my glove and pulled out a single hundred dollar bill. Still intangible I lightly rummaged around in her purse until I found her broken cell phone. I placed the bill so that it would be impossible to miss once she decided to take her now broken phone out of her purse once more. Finally she made it to the rather ominous looking entrance to the parking garage; not too far from the main entrance to the office building. As she entered the garage I let up on the virtual shield I had been holding around her and let her continue to her car.

Hopefully that would cover at least part of a new phone. I could relate to this woman in particular. I would not want to be without a method of contacting Daniel, especially if he was sick or there was something wrong. A stressed employee staying home to tend to a sick child was of no use to me anyhow.

Leaving the woman to fend for herself I flew back to the office building ready to move up to the second floor to see what would await me there that I might find interesting.

* * *

Oh I loved pulling this one. It was too much fun to watch them suffer in bewilderment. Currently I was torturing a rather large man. Not too overweight so that one might call him obese, but he was large enough that bending over as many a time as he had already, was making him break out in a sweat. His balding head had adopted a rather unattractive sheen.

"Gotcha!" His fingers merely slipped through the hundred dollar bill sitting innocently on the floor as I briefly made it intangible once more. The man was starting to become angry and frustrated with the money he could not be allowed to pick up; having tried to do so about twenty times already. He simply stared at the bill on the floor before he growled and ran a hand over his bald head. Stepping back for a moment he mumbled to himself as he paced the short width of the hallway. He glanced at the bill for a second before he looked to the ceiling.

"God, if this is some punishment or a sign that I've done something wrong. I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I'm sorry. Could you please forgive me?" I had to hold down a laugh at the genuine plea in the man's voice. The utterly helpless look on his face was priceless. I stopped my silent laughing fit as the man continued. "I'm going to pick up the dollar now. If you forgive me please let me pick it up, and I will donate it to the church." I rolled my eyes at the obvious lie. If this man really did believe in God then he honestly wouldn't think he would be allowed to take the money, would he? Either he didn't really believe he would be able to pick it up this time, or he was incredibly moronic and didn't deserve the money anyway. Whichever option turned out to be true I didn't think it was out of the question that I was going to play with my prey just a few minutes more.

The man slowly bent over one more time to retrieve the elusive bill. His hand hovered within inches of it as he sent glances back to the ceiling, as if checking to make sure 'god' was paying attention and had heard his plea. I smiled evilly as his hand traveled the last few inches. This time I did not turn the bill intangible; allowing his fingers to touch the green paper. When he registered that he could indeed touch the money, his expression lit up like a neon sign. Absolute disbelief played out over his face and his fingers pinched the bill to pick it up. Just as the bill had made it off of the floor, I made it intangible once more.

The man's face now became red and he threw himself on his stomach to growl menacingly at the money that would not cooperate with him. He fixed his gaze on the bill and jabbed his finger at it like he was scolding a small child.

"You listen to me, you stupid piece of overrated paper. I have had it with you and your stupid games. I have a wife and a kid who need to be fed and taken care of. I was the person who found you so I get to keep you. I don't care what you want, you are going to let me pick you up off the floor or I will make sure you regret messing with me. I refuse to be made into entertainment for an inanimate object. So you can cooperate now, or suffer the consequences." The man then eyed the money as if determining whether it was going to listen to him or not. I was having some serious trouble containing myself. My diaphragm was starting to hurt with all of the strain it was under. I would be able to keep quite through the whole show though. I had done this many times before and had plenty of practice. I prepared the hand I was keeping on the bill to turn it intangible once more as I saw the man prepare to strike.

There was a loud thud as the man brought his hand down as fast as he could to the currency eluding him on the carpet. He was nowhere near as fast as me of course. I had the bill intangible as soon as his hand started moving. When he saw and felt that once again he had been foiled, he let out a cry of frustration and he repeatedly pounded the ground where he should have been able to grab a one hundred dollar bill.

"Why can't I pick you up? It isn't fair! Why is this happening? This shouldn't be possible!" I was biting my tongue trying not make a sound as I watched a grown man have a temper tantrum in the middle of the office. He seemed almost on the verge of tears. The event obviously having gone against everything he had ever learned to be true about the laws of physics.

"Randal, are you okay?" knowing what was generally to come I made the bill invisible and tucked it back into the cuff of my glove, ready to enjoy the rest of the show. The man I had been teasing for an odd fifteen minutes abruptly stopped his shouting and pounding when he realized the commotion he was making had drawn another person to the hallway. He rolled and picked up his head awkwardly to view the younger, skinnier man who had just come out of a door not ten feet behind where everything had taken place so far.

"I am not okay! I found this hundred dollar bill just lying in the middle of the hallway when I went to go to the bathroom and I bent down to pick it up and I couldn't. I tried to, but I couldn't touch it. It was like it was a hologram or something, but then I did touch it for a split second before it fell through my hands again and I have had it! It just isn't possible. You come try to pick it up!" The man gestured wildly to the place where the bill he had been battling had previously been sitting. The younger male stepped out further into the hallway. Wary of his seemingly insane colleague, but curious as to what would have set him off. When he got close enough to the man still lying on the floor to see that there was nothing there. He stopped and hesitantly informed the disgruntled man of his findings.

"Randal, what are you talking about? There isn't anything there." The man on the floor, Randal, obviously knew he sounded insane and grew mad when the younger accused him of such. He turned back around to face the spot where the bill had sat.

"There is to- W-what the hell! It was there. I swear to god it was there. You have to believe me!" Randal ran his hands slowly over the carpet, staring intently where the bill had been only seconds ago.

"Randal, I think I'm going to call an ambulance." Randal's eyes grew wide and he sprung off the floor; trying to make the younger believe that he did not need to be hospitalized for any illness that would involve delusions about disappearing money.

"No Greg, don't. I-I'm fine really. I just think I need some water and maybe to sit down. Please don't tell anyone about this." The younger now looked genuinely concerned for his coworker, truly unsure if he should call someone to get the seemingly senile man checked out. I was silently trying to take deep breaths to keep myself under control. This was too hilarious. I was sure that this Randal character would never be looked at the same way in his office again. Gossip was sure to spread through the entire building about what the younger fellow had heard him claim; it always did when something along these lines happened. Everyone was always in on these sorts of deeds. They were always adding to their list of unexplainable happenings to try to figure out what was the cause of it all in the first place. No, I mean they literally had a 'paranormal events' list. An older woman named Judy Root was the official keeper of the list on the eighth floor.

I watched the current scene come to a close as the younger male then put his hand on Randal's shoulder; shepherding him back towards the appropriate office.

"Common Randal, I'll by you some bottled water and a bag of pretzels or something." Randal put his hands on his hips, breathing heavily as he allowed the younger man to guide him back to sanity.

"Some water sounds good. Thanks Greg." The young man sympathetically nodded as they both disappeared in the doorway that they had both originally emerged from. When the door closed I allowed myself a few light chuckles. Those doors were thick, I made sure when I had the building built, no one would hear me now that the hallway was vacant.

That had definitely been the best one so far today. I was starting to think I was going to have to try for a good laugh again tomorrow. I was already on the thirteenth floor and nothing particularly hilarious had happened before now.

The second, third, fourth, and fifth floors were all working diligently away. It was a Tuesday after all. No one had tried to pull any office pranks on anyone else and nobody was playing computer games when they ought to be working. They were all concentrating on whatever task they had been assigned.

I had gotten to the sixth floor and come to a young man using the paper shredder as he talked to a young woman in her office nearby. He was obviously more concerned with courting her than what was being fed into the machine. I decided this should be something I ought to put a stop to. It could be bad for business you see. What if there had been an important piece of paper in the pile that he had shredded on accident? He obviously needed to be taught a lesson. So with the next piece of paper he fed to the machine I placed a one hundred dollar bill in as well. It was in fact the woman who had noticed the bill appear and notified the young man to the strange appearance. He of course 'freaked out' as Daniel would say, and frantically tried to stop the machine before it could completely eat the sizable amount of money. I however had made sure that it was far too late for him to do anything.

It was quite amusing to watch him try to find all the pieces of the bill and tape them together in the correct order; though that had grown uninteresting in a hurry. The woman had indifferently gone back to her work. I saw, before I left, that she had already sent an e-mail to Mrs. Root on the eighth floor about what had happened.

It was quite comical, that after all of these years nobody had yet to even come close to the real answer. Most of them still thought that everything could be explained with logic, which didn't include anything ghostly or even spiritually related. I was still very far from being discovered. Of course on the slim chance anyone was lucky enough to figure anything out, I had multiple ways to make sure they wouldn't become a threat.

It made it all the more entertaining really, when the people you toyed with utterly refused to believe what was right in front of them.

My mouth soured as I realized the reality of what I had just supposed to be true. It was amusing _now_ to watch them struggle to come up with the correct answer; when they had no weapons and could do none but themselves any harm. It was amusing when the only victim was the person who refused to accept the truth. It was quite hilarious to watch them struggle to come to grips with what had happened, when their reactions and decisions were causing nothing but their own inner turmoil. It was_ not_ amusing however, in any respect, to watch them deny the correct answer when the answer they wanted to believe would cause my little badger's world to fall apart.

I stood up from my previous position on the floor. No, it was not funny at all. It was not the least bit humors to watch my Daniel go through all of this because of two imbeciles' ignorance to reality. I could feel my aura flaring slightly as I thought once more of those two excuses for human beings. I had to stop myself once again, from abandoning my current task and going to that blasted ungrateful town to flatten it to the ground.

I forced myself to calm as I thought once more of Daniel. He would not approve if I decided to destroy the very thing he so idiotically decided deserved his continued loyalty. I would never earn his forgiveness if I executed what I knew that infinitesimal little speck on a map deserved. I had to choose one or the other in this case. I had to choose between avenging Daniel, and keeping him at my side. The choice was very simple of course; I would do anything to keep Daniel with me. That fact however did nothing to stop me from wishing all of the pain and suffering in the world on that town and especially those whom he had placed his trust.

A slightly hopeful look came over my face as I had a perspective thought. Perhaps I could see if that insufferable little town was getting what it deserved.

Now having much a more relevant matter to attend to I abandon my daily ritual and returned to my office on the twenty third floor. I quickly arrived there and absorbed my duplicate, removing the money I hadn't used from the cuff of my glove before I morphed back to my human half. Indifferently I stuffed the money I had saved from my ghost form and placed it back into my wallet. Then I placed the wallet back into the inner pocket of my suit jacket as I moved to the filling cabinet on my left.

I paused for a moment as I tried to recall in which cabinet I had placed my laptop. As I had said earlier I hadn't had a use for it in ages. I went on a hunch and crouched down to open the cabinet on the lower right. I remained apathetic as I had guessed correctly, simply removing the thin black device so I could make proper use of it.

Briskly I walked back to my desk, setting the device lightly on the glass surface. I opened up the computer and hit the power button as I set myself down comfortably in my desk chair. Quickly the computer loaded and I was left to enter the password to access my account. There was really nothing on this computer; perhaps a few stray business documents. I only had a password on this particular computer out of habit. I typed in the variation of the password I usually used that I had chosen for this computer.

_Danielstoleit_

I resisted a smirk as I hit enter.

Once more, it didn't take long for the computer to become ready for my use. I didn't hesitate in opening up a web browser and searching for the only barely reputable newspaper in that town, "The Amity Park Chronicle". I was brought to a list of results for my search and I clicked the one that I knew was what I was searching for. This was by no means the first time I had looked up the happenings of Daniel's home town. It had simply been a decent amount of time since I had been required to do so.

I was brought to the Chronicle's home page and much to my pleasure I found what I had indeed expected. The main headline was displayed across the top left of the page_ "Ghosts Overtake Quietude Road"_. Of course it would only be a matter of time before the town was completely overrun with ghosts.

At some point I would have to teach Daniel how to officially claim his own domain if he so desired one. Most ghosts preferred to stake their claim somewhere; though I was perfectly content to allow him to inhabit my 'territory' as it were. Staking your claim was merely what kept others from doubting a ghost's absolute control over a piece of land. The fact was why I did not constantly have ghosts on my doorstep, like Daniel had had back in Amity; that, and most everyone knew that if they so much as threatened to challenge me they would regret it.

Because Daniel had not made it clear that he "owned" Amity, other ghosts of his caliber were bound to go and see if they could not claim the land for themselves. Daniel had been so insistent that he was not the "owner" of anything, that he was only there to "protect others", that it had given other ghosts the impression that the land was not his. They were under the impression that Daniel was merely a defensive force guarding some unclaimed thing; leaving his town wide open for attack. Really all he was making himself was a one man army.

Without Daniel there to attract larger more powerful ghosts, however, they surely would become uninterested in conquering the region. As soon as Daniel left the premises all of the weakest ghosts in the vicinity would swoop in and squabble for control of the abandon territory. It would be a slow process made slower by the fact that there were people there to hinder it, but eventually ghosts of a higher caliber would come back to own the town.

As smaller ghosts moved in and took what Daniel had failed to claim as his own, they would attract slightly more powerful ghosts who wanted to take from the smaller ghosts for their own. Then those more powerful ghosts would take from the weaker ones and make the territory their own. As soon as those more powerful ghosts had made themselves at home, even more powerful ghosts would come to take over for a similar purpose. The process would repeat itself until the land was facilitating the most powerful ghost who wished to live there.

The power level of the ghost that would end up inhabiting the land depended on several things. It was much like buying a house. You would not have a billionaire living in a shack and a bankrupt man living in a mansion. To make a comparison you might say that Amity was about the level of a three story home along some pleasant coastline. This was due to the fact that Amity was home to a very stable portal and there were a population of people to "play with". If not for the fact that the people in Amity were aware of ghosts and knew how to fight them; the land would be more along the lines of a small mansion. Then the town would be doomed to attracting ghosts only a significant deal weaker than me and Daniel; which was still a respectable threat, if you were a full human and had no one there to protect you.

Until a ghost of an appropriate power level came along, however, lesser ghosts would infest the land that was really much too valuable for them to realistically hold a claim to.

I finally shook myself from my musings as a cloud passed outside and revealed the sun, making it significantly brighter in the room. I was brought back to the laptop in front of me and decided to indulge myself in seeing how the pitiful town was holding up so far. I started in on the first headline.

_Ghosts Overtake Quietude Road_

_Tuesday, October 27, 2010, 5:36 am_

_Written by: Katy Teems_

_As of today the ghost infestation has officially made the entire retail district on Quietude Road uninhabitable by humans. The fact that the section of the retail district has been completely overrun has had an effect on several family owned business including Cone World, Myer Music, and Yesterdogs. The businesses have been forced to close due to the presence of an overwhelming amount of paranormal entities; the effects of their presence making running a business safely, impossible. The entities are large enough in number in this area that they have been able to effectively stave off any attempt that humans have made to come near the buildings by possessing dangerous objects such as hammers, knives, and disconnected power lines. We spoke with one area business owner who had this to say._

"_I just don't know what I'm going to do. If I can't run a business then how am I supposed to support my family? I can't get near the place without something flying at my head trying to decapitate me. That store was all we had. This needs to be dealt with now before it's too late. If we don't, I don't think it will be long before the bastards take our homes too. Where is the government response in all of this? Why doesn't anyone seem to know what to do? It's not like ghosts are a new phenomenon in this town." Jon Baker._

_Though there are a brave few coming out to of the woodwork to help the town in its time of need. Most famously are Jack and Maddie Fenton who helped largely to protect the town in the Ghost Invasion of Pariah Dark. They are also the tows primary supplier and producer of paranormal defense weapons. Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, friends of the Fenton's missing son, have also stepped up as the town's most efficient defense against ghosts. The ever mysterious Red Huntress has been seen much more frequently in the last few weeks, fighting against the entities that are slowly increasing in number. The Federal government has also taken notice to the town's predicament and has sent three units of Guys in White agents to help with the crisis; though their help and training seem to be inadequate when faced with the current situation. _

_Answering the towns' call, the Fenton's and their son's friends have made Quietude Road their priority and are currently working around the clock to make the section of town safe for human habitation once again. _

_As thoughts of a complete take over sweep through the town, panic has begun to rise to a palpable level. Some have already started vacating their homes in search of a safer place to live. Sales of Axion Labs and Fenton Works anti-ghost devices have shot through the roof as people stock up to defend themselves; though an armed public seems to be doing little to stave off the onslaught of ghosts that seem to appear from nowhere._

_Many have blamed the Fenton's and their portal for the mess. Believing that without it, there would not have been a ghost problem in the first place. The Fenton's have denied any accusations, saying that the portal has not been opened since the disappearance of their son Daniel James Fenton on October 5. The elder Fenton's believe his disappearance actually may be connected to the current paranormal crisis. They believe that the ghosts have tried to retaliate against them, the primary ghost fighting force of the town, by kidnapping their only son._

_The Ghost Expert's prediction may be true, but it seems the public has come up with a far more plausible connection to the current crisis, and that is the disappearance of the town hero Danny Phantom. Though the Fenton's or any ghost hunter questioned thus far have refused to make a statement, an overwhelming 87% of the town's people believe that the disappearance of the late hero is cause for the current crisis. Though feelings are divided as to why the town's protector has suddenly vanished when it seems we needed him most. _

_No matter what we choose to believe or who is responsible; one thing is certain. The crisis here in Amity is reaching desperate levels and something will have to be done to avoid a complete and total overthrow._

I could only smirk. Yes it seems that the incompetent fools were only just barely holding back the onslaught. Little did they know this was only the beginning. Far more perilous situations were destined to befall them. The town would undoubtedly pay for what they had done to Daniel. It would be slow in coming, but they would pay. The best part of it all was that my relations with Daniel would go unchanged as technically none of the things happening to the town could be traced back to me. To ensure that the town suffered it was only a matter of making sure that Daniel didn't see the need to go back and save it from its fate.

I sighed. I don't know why Daniel insisted that he needed to save that pathetic place. I truly had trouble comprehending what drove the boy to put such unnecessary responsibility on himself. No matter what the boy believed, however, it would be my responsibility to prevent him from thinking that he needed to go back. That meant I had to keep the truth of the matter in Amity hidden from him without him knowing I was doing so. It was a difficult balance, but I was succeeding thus far. The word of Daniel's allies had had a large part in convincing the teen that all was well in his home town. They had all technically told the truth, if not a warped version of it. The ghosts that were infesting the town currently were so weak that no one in the Ghost Zone cared to keep track of them, and were below everyone's notice. It would appear to the ghosts Daniel associated with, that virtually no ghosts worth mentioning were going through the portal, as that was the truth. However the excuses for ghost hunters in Amity were so inept that they would have trouble containing even those insignificant specters.

If Daniel truly wanted to he could look into the matter of his towns well being. The tools were there, he had to simply use them, though I doubted he would if he had not already. He could indeed look up his town's paper on the internet as I had just done, though he would be met with a great deal of resistance from his laptop or any of his computers. I had employed Technus in making sure that getting to anything related to Amity would be very difficult. By the time the boy would have gotten through most of the obstacles in the way of accessing the correct information, he would most likely have given up. I had also employed the Ghost Writer in producing a fake news paper to be published on the web that the boy could run into. I had looked at it myself and I was very pleased with it. The paper did not sugar coat things so that Daniel would find it hard to believe, but it did paint a picture of a town that was not in so much turmoil that it would require Daniel to return. In fact when I checked in last The Ghost Writer had produced a rather brilliant article, suggesting that the decrease in ghosts was due to Daniel, and that the towns' people had been grateful to see him go.

Yes, Daniel had the ability to check in on his town if he so wished, but I had taken it upon myself to make sure there were a number of hurdles to overcome to get to the correct information. Really all of this was just an extra precaution. Keeping Daniel distracted and busy was my main tactic in making sure he discovered nothing. I was under the impression he himself didn't wish to think of the town in the first place. Really he was very far from running off to play superhero.

I created a small red ball of energy to play with in my hands. Daniel was going to be fine as long as he stayed with me. I was doing everything I could to ensure that he would remain safely tucked away in the world I was helping him create for himself. Perhaps one day, when Daniel understood why I was hiding this from him, I could alert him to the truth. Until that day however, he would require me to shield him from it. It was only necessary if he were ever to heal from the mental and physical scars that town had left upon him. I would not, could not, allow that place to ever harm him again. They had already inflicted several mortal wounds on the boy, I would never allow it to do anything more.

I looked out the window behind me and on a whim started bouncing the small red ball I had created off of the glass. I really did care about Daniel. He was truly a treasure; more valuable to me than anything else in the world. He was cunning, smart, quick witted; he was the son I never had. He never looked at me as a person that simply had money or influence. I knew form re-reading many diary entries that he saw me as much more than that. To him I was someone that he could learn a great deal from. Though he never admitted it aloud to anyone, he had specified that he even looked up to me in some way. He had said in his journal that he envied me for the mastery of my ghost powers. He had confessed in that small book that he wanted to be like me in some small manner. That small trove of hidden truth had revealed to me that I could do far more for the boy than I had ever imagined.

I could provide him with someone to follow. As the only other half ghost in existence I was the only other person he had to realistically look up to. Daniel was a lost ship on the treacherous ocean of life; being thrown around like a toy by the storm of turmoil that had bestowed itself upon him. What I could be for Daniel, at this point in his life, was a beacon. I could be the light that guided him safely back to the harbor. I was the only light he could see when all of the others in his life had burnt out. I could guide him back to a safer place. Perhaps a place he had never been before; a place where he knew he was worth something and that he was not alone. A place where he wouldn't think of himself as some sort of freak.

I caught the small red ball one last time before absorbing it back into my palm. Glancing back to the clock above the doorway I saw that it was already 12:05. I suppose it was time I prepared myself a small lunch. I was starting to become hungry. I spun back to face my desk and closed the laptop that had fallen asleep. I placed the computer back in its proper place before I went to the door.

* * *

Why didn't I keep any aspirin in my office? I would have to remember to get some in here. There was no way I was suffering through this sort of thing again without some kind of relief. Lunch had been quite as usual. I had made myself a turkey sandwich and checked in with Helena. I suppose she became rather lonely at times. It appeared to her that I stayed in my office all morning and rarely was anyone required to come up to the twenty third floor. I had suggested before, that I move her to a floor with more people on it, though she refused; saying that she was more productive when by herself. I had quickly dropped by her desk and made sure everything was running smoothly. She had, as usual, been fine. She had then taken it upon herself to remind me of the appointment I had agreed to with Mr. Teagarden this morning. After I had been reminded of the torture I agreed to put myself through I had had exactly thirty seven minutes to mentally prepare for it. Though really that had done nothing to alleviate the past twenty four minutes of stupidity I had been forcing myself to sit through.

For only having had the morning to prepare himself, Mr. Teagarden had put together quite the presentation. When he had walked into my office he had laden himself down with various easels and posters; being that he had many ideas he wanted to show me. So far I had seen twelve variations of the exact same logo that he wanted to change to. The logo he had created was drastically different from what the company was currently sporting and it was not something I would even remotely consider changing to in the first place.

I had not said a word for the past twenty four minutes and I only watched indifferently as Mr. Teagarden pitched me his ideas. The fact that I had not reacted to anything he had done was throwing him off. His face had become red and he had whipped his forehead with the cuff of his sleeve more than once. I brought myself back to his stuttering voice as he said virtually the same thing over and over.

"Now this one would look very nice or virtually all of your merchandise, particularly because of the contours you can see along these sides here." He moved his hands along the upper left and lower right diagonals of the image. "The proportions make it easy to resize and place anywhere on any surface." Mr. Teagarden paused once more to see if maybe this time I would react to what he had said. I remained immobile however. I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that a quick resizing could be done to anything with the click of a mouse on virtually any computer. The point he was making was really a very invalid one. Seeing that once again I was not going to respond he nervously continued.

"Right, so you might like this one better. It's closer to what you currently have as the company logo." I watched as Mr. Teagarden bent over to pick up another one of his posters. However in the process of doing so he knocked over one of his hastily set up easels; sending it toppling over into yet another hastily set up easel. The end result was a domino effect as all four of the easels he had set up at the top of the hour toppled to the floor. The posters that had been resting on them floated lazily to the ground wherever they might have chosen.

The man before me let out a short yell of surprise before he scrambled over the pile of posters and lumber to try to set it all back up. I blinked my eyes once patiently as I watched the spectacle. Mr. Teagarden was sputtering his apologies while unsuccessfully trying to set up his presentation once more.

"I'm sorry about that. Just give me one second and I'll have all of this set up again. It will only take a second. I'm really-"

"Mr. Teagarden," The man in question immediately halted and returned to a fully erect posture. In his haste to stand up quickly his tie had flown over his shoulder, though he dared not move to correct it in favor of paying attention to what I had to say. I took my hands down from the steepled position they had been resting in thus far to gesture towards one of the chairs in front of my desk, "please have a seat." Without an ounce of hesitation the man before me completely abandon the mess he had created and made his way to the chair I had indicated. He sat there patiently waiting for what I had to say. I resisted an eye roll with the man's obedience. It seemed some of my employees would jump off the top of a building if I told them to. Without showing an ounce of emotion I reached into a drawer underneath my desk and searched for a paper that might be there with the DALV logo on it. I quickly found one and set it on the top of my desk facing Mr. Teagarden.

"Tell me, Mr. Teagarden, what is wrong with this logo?" The man nervously looked to me for permission to lean forward. I gave him a small nod after which he leaned forward only enough to see the paper on my desk without touching it. He coughed lightly as he settled back into his chair.

"Well, um, I wouldn't say there is anything _wrong _with it. It's just that it seems a little bland compared to what the competition has been using." Feigning interest I leaned back in my chair and brought my hand up to stroke my chin. I pushed the paper forward inviting Mr. Teagarden to pick it up.

"What _specifically_ do you think needs improving with this particular image?" Mr. Teagarden seemed to let his nerves settle ever so slightly now that there was something specific I was asking of him. I was simply inquiring for his opinion and that was something he could easily give to me. Mr. Teagarden nervously pinched the paper and took it off of my desk holding it in his hands for a moment. Never taking his eyes off of the paper, now having something to look at besides me, he started to tell me what he thought.

"W-well all that is there is the name, DALV, in black letters, along with a halo of leaves. It doesn't seem like it really captures what the company is all about. I feel like it needs something else, you know? Something to say 'hey this is DALV and this is the best'." When Mr. Teagarden looked up to me I gave him a nod as I leaned forward and took the paper from him.

"Mr. Teagarden, what is it that DALV produces and provides exactly?" His nerves calmed once more at the easy question. He answered somewhat confidently.

"Well DALV specifically produces any and all amounts of scientific instruments for use in the classroom like beakers, Bunsen burners, goggles, test tubes. and such along with making different chemical elements available for sales to schools and company developers. I thought that DALV also had a couple of scholarships and programs open for kids to get involved with science as a career choice." I nodded again to confirm to he had answered correctly. He seemed to relax just an ounce more as he saw he had given me what I desired with his answer. If only he had been aware that what he was giving me was ammunition to use against him. I set the paper in my hands down on my desk leaving my hands free to gesture as I talked. I stared directly into the man's eyes so I would not have to repeat myself.

"Do you believe that children old enough to use our products, care what the logo on the side of the beaker they are being forced to use as a part of a science experiment, looks like? I was not under the impression that the young minds we award scholarships to every year were so naive as to apply for the grant because our logo 'looks cool'. I can tell you, Mr. Teagarden that no child using our products knows what even the current logo looks like, because they don't care.

The people who buy from DALV are not looking to be dazzled with a fancy logo that will catch their eye. People who are shopping for these sorts of products are doing their research about what they are buying so that they are sure they are making purchases from a reliable and safe provider. This logo, Mr. Teagarden, is not supposed to be fancy or intricate. All that needs to be in this logo is the name, so that people are aware of where their product has come from. The goal with this is not to be eye catching or superficial, it is to be subtle and dependable so that the buyer knows we are not solely concentrated on attracting their attention and making a sale. This logo does its job, and does it well Mr. Teagarden. I would suggest that before you decide to waste more of my time again, you stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, and start doing yours. You are dismissed." The man only sat in the chair before me, unblinking and pale. His face had lost any and all color. I ignored him and put the paper I had taken from my desk back in its proper place. When I looked back up the man was still there staring at me. I sighed and asked the man to leave once more.

"Get out of my office now or I will call security." That did the trick as now the man sprung into motion. I only watched him skeptically and with reserved judgment as he scrambled about collecting his things. When he had barely a hold of everything he shoved himself and everything he was carrying through the door before hastily closing it behind him. I glanced at the clock above the door he had just exited with a sigh. It was 1:30 exactly.

I don't know why I agreed to see him in the first place. I would have usually just fired the man after the third time he had asked to see me. It was simple enough to hire a new person. Employees were so easily replaced it was laughable. What was the man doing bothering himself with this matter in the first place? His job was to position the logo in an appropriate spot on anything that needed a logo on it. I suppose Daniel was rubbing off on me and I was becoming more tolerant. I would have to watch for that in the future. I couldn't allow myself to go soft now. What sort of business man would I be?

There was a loud clatter outside my door as the man I had just made an absolute fool of undeniably dropped everything once again. I sighed and rubbed my temples. Just three more hours and I could go home. Three hours was all that stood between me and going home to Daniel.

* * *

Well I suppose this driver was slightly better than the previous one. Though still not even in the same universe as Clinton. He seemed to be oblivious to the speed limit, and was traveling at a steady forty five in a fifty five mile per hour zone. Every once in a while he would gradually speed up, seeing that he could go faster, only to settle back to forty five. Really it was quite ridiculous. I would have to have someone introduce this man to cruise control.

The sound of the tires against the ground changed as we rolled onto the white gravel of my driveway. Slowly we came to a stop. As was normal I handed my brief case to the driver while I climbed out of the car and had it handed back to me once I was standing upright. As soon as I had everything I needed I started on my way up to the front door without saying a word. This driver was smart enough to keep his mouth shut so my travel was unimpeded.

A maid was there to take my suit jacket and my briefcase as I made my way to Daniel's room. I couldn't wait to see him and hear about his day. I wondered what he got on his quiz in math. He had been rather uncertain about it yesterday. I had offered him a tutor, but he had said he was fine and that his sister was helping him with it over the internet.

I of course asked about his talking with his sister and he had become rather annoyed. He immediately assured me that he was not planning anything and that they were just talking about their day to day lives. Daniel about his school and Jasmine about hers. He had actually informed me that he had already been through the process of convincing his sister that I wasn't planning anything and that she was now firmly under the notion that I was behaving.

The simple fact that he was arguing for my innocence to his sister made my heart swell. He really did believe I was trying to help him. It was true after all; I was doing everything in my power to make him comfortable and happy.

I turned a corner as another thought crossed my mind. I suppose Daniel rather missed his sister. I myself had never had a sibling, but anyone could tell that Daniel and Jasmine cared deeply for each other. Perhaps Daniel would like to invite Jasmine over at some point. Though he had informed me that they did talk almost every day over the internet, it was always different when you saw the person in reality.

Jasmine had been quite right about Daniel and her being a package deal. Any time in casual conversation Jasmine was mentioned Daniel's eyes would light up slightly. He always defended his sister and never spoke ill of her. I suppose it would be better if Jasmine could see for herself that I was on Daniel's side this time around. Perhaps Daniel would have more faith in me as well if I got his sister on board with the fact that I was willing to facilitate Daniel's every whim.

I quickly approached Daniel's door and I couldn't help a smile that broke out over my face. I never saw Daniel without laughing at least once. I knocked lightly before I took it upon myself to open the door. I came into his room, in a relatively clean state thanks to the staff.

I found Daniel laying on his stomach in the middle of his bed, working on his computer. He had changed once again to his preferred jeans, oxford, and undershirt. I closed the door behind me as I walked to take a seat on Daniel's bed.

"Good afternoon Daniel. Your day was fine I assume?" I took a seat next to Daniel to see he was working on some math homework. He closed out of his program and shut his computer before he looked to me. The action made me apprehensive as usually he would not pause in his work to respond. I gave the teen my full attention as he moved to cross his legs.

"Vlad, why the crap do I keep hearing everyone talk about you throwing a Halloween party?" My eyes widened a fraction before my shoulders dropped slightly and I let out a sigh. Pumpkin tarts! I had completely forgotten to tell Daniel about my annual Haunted Halloween Ball.


	34. Chapter 34: The 6 o'clock News

AN:/ I had a liver biopsy today! how fun does that sound! (not) omg i have a whole new apreciation for underwear and pants and bras and clothes in generall. If i never have to wear a hospital gown again it will be too soon. I officially know what it feels like to be sedated too. I think that is the best sleep i've had in a long time. The first thing I said when I woke up was " You guys got anymore of that sedation stuff?" ( I can't remember if everybody laughed or not or even really if i was very coherent. I had trouble getting back into the gurny anyway.)oh my god it was weird. You know that feeling when sometimes you can tell that you're leg or your arm is falling asleep? Imagine that only all over your body for like three seconds and then BAM! your out. Then all the sudden you wake up and you've got this giant bandage on your side and your seeing doubble. Then you feel really drunk for like the next ten minutes and then your fine. that was it.

okay onto more relevant matters. I'm sorry i took kind of a long time with this one. I had to repeatedly kick myself in the rear to get this done. It's short because I couldn't think of a lot to put in it. I know that the time I say passes between comercials doesn't correlate very well with how much time this kind of thing might actually take up, but whatever. The next chapter should be a nice good long one though. But i'm not promising anything because I have exams next week and i have to study for those. And go sledding. that's important stuff too! :P alright well i can;t think of anything else I want to say. Sorry that last chapter with Vlad was kind of a miss. I regret to inform this one may not be much better. ON WITH IT!

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 34: The 6 o'colck News

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, January 14, 2011, 9:46PM_

* * *

**Third Person**

Somewhere deep in Ghost Zone, there happened to be a very normal looking door. It was not purple, or any other bizarre color; merely an average brown. The single room that this ordinary door leads to was completely dark. So dark, that from the inside it was impossible to tell if there actually were walls, let alone any sort of window. All that was in the room was a relatively old analog television. It remained off, as no cords were coming out of the TV to give the device power. There were no chairs and no tables on which the television could sit. It was completely dark and empty besides this sole dusty analog television.

Outside the mysterious room time was moving forward as it slowly approached 6:00. The seconds ticked by until that one moment when the second and minute hand would strike the twelve in unison; signaling the arrival of the new hour. As with every day such an event happened on the Tuesday of October 27, 2010, to usher in the sixth hour to occur after noon.

5:59:59 changed to 6:00:00

The television in the room suddenly came to life. A loud snapping and crackling noise emitted from the machine as static snow was displayed on the screen. The device soon found its bearings, however, and a clear image with corresponding audio were displayed.

_Duuun, Dun Duun, Dun Duuuuuun. _A large red logo that read "Action News" swooped in from the top left of the screen before it shrank and returned to its proper place at the bottom right corner. A man in about his mid thirties and a woman in her early twenties started to speak; their image having appeared there in the wake of the obnoxious red image before.

"Good evening Amity Park. This is Brad Storm,"

"and Shelly Makamoto"

" October 27, 2010 at the top of the hour with Live Action News." The slightly balding Caucasian man and the younger Asian woman both sat behind a large island like desk. There were no additional distractions on the large slightly curved surface at which the two sat. The entire desk was simply in the middle of the room, specifically so that the two could easily sit there and be the center of attention. Without hesitation the man now started right in on reporting the happenings of the day. He was not paid to make long, fancy introductions after all.

"The Ghost Crisis that has enveloped the town and dominated our headlines, continues to progress as earlier last night the retail district of Quietude Road became completely uninhabitable due to the presence of hostile ghosts.

The area has quite literally turned into a ghost town as no human has been allowed to enter the buildings by the formless specters that have invaded them. Any attempts of business owners to enter their shops have been met with violent retaliation; possessed objects coming to life and attacking their owners, driving them away." The hastily obtained image of a short but jolly looking man appeared on the upper right of the screen as the reporter continued.

"Bruce Hanson, owner of the Heavenly Ham on Quietude Road, was admitted to the hospital today with several gashes to his upper torso. He had tried to enter his shop when a fleet of butcher knives reportedly picked themselves up off of the counter and threw themselves at his head. He is in stable condition and it is expected he will make a full recovery. We go now to Tiffany as she was earlier, on the scene." The image now switched to that of a rather stereotypical blond woman in her late twenties. She was dressed in a plain red fall jacket; the tips of her ears were slightly red as she held the microphone in her hand close to herself. The background behind her was that of the ending of a cold fall day. The hair she had not managed to pin down occasionally blew in front of her face in little teasing wisps.

"It is true that the situation here has reached an unprecedented level. Most of us are familiar with dangers that the presence of ghosts has presented in our town, but perhaps none of us could have predicted that the situation would come to this.

Indeed the entire of the 1600 block of Quietude road has been taken over by shapeless green ghosts. Not like the ghosts we usually see here in Amity Park, these ghosts have no clear motive and do not take on any recognizable form. They seem to posses no unique powers besides that of controlling objects that they inhabit or possess. We are told by experts that the ghosts use human objects much like hermit crabs uses shells, to protect themselves.

A ghost that possesses an item is not harmed if the object is simply broken or damaged. This enables the ghost to use the object as a sort of line of defense against any attackers. Once alerted to the presence of a threat the ghost is then able to manipulate the object to its own will and retaliate; or if the object is rendered useless, find a new item to use. We are told that the actual ghosts do not have enough power to do any harm without possessing human items. That would be that they can only act offensively if there is a way for them to manipulate their "shell", if you will, in an attack.

Upon hearing of the unique crisis, the town's Ghost Hunters, Jack and Maddie Fenton, were on the scene. The Fenton's are perhaps most famous for their handling of the Mass Ghost Invasion of Pariah Dark in 2008. The situation here, presenting similar conditions, is being handled professionally. They are currently going form business to business eradicating the property of the specters.

The business owners of the area are particularly grateful as the Fenton's insist that they not be paid for their services. They, along with the rest of the town, hold the utmost discontent for the beings and are operating under the impression that the usage of their ability to fight the beasts is a duty to the town.

The Fenton's have been working tirelessly and ruthlessly against the seemingly endless amount of ghosts and are making incredible progress. Though we are far from being rid of the surge of ghosts that have come over the last three weeks; it is safe to say that this section of town will soon be back to a point of functioning. I'm Tiffany Snow and this is Action News." The image now switched back from Tiffany in the fall cold back to the young Asian, Shelly Makamoto, safe in the News Studio behind the island of a main news desk.

"In a related story Daniel James Fenton, son of Jack and Maddie Fenton, age 16, is still missing." A montage of less than flattering pictures of Daniel James Fenton took up the space of the entire screen as Shelly Makamoto narrated the corresponding story. "The Fenton's alerted the authorities to their son's kidnapping earlier this month. They had reportedly been assaulted and knocked unconscious be the kidnapper. When they awoke the next morning they could not find their son. The kidnapper did a fairly thorough job of completely eradicating the teen from existence, leaving the house in ruins and burning any legal documents that would indicate that the teen had ever been born. It is only because of family photos and overwhelming testimonies to the fact that the teen had previously been registered with the government that police have been able to put up a viable search. As police enter the third week of searching for the missing teen with nothing but photographs, hope is starting to dwindle that we may find him still alive. If you see this child please call the number displayed on the screen. Any and all leads are appreciated." The montage ended and an image of Shelly Makamoto shuffling papers briefly occupied the screen before the vantage point changed so we could now see Brad Storm. He too idelly straitened a few papers he had been holding in his hands before he started in on reporting the next story. This one slightly related to the last, so viewers would not be too thrown off by any sudden topic changes.

"Keeping your kids safe is the main concern of many parents; especially in the current crisis. Most of us are familiar with Ghost attacks and the devastating effect they can have on the school system, more specifically, the buildings that make up the school system. It was the reason we started practicing Ghost drills along with Fire and Severe Weather drills. The specters that previously attacked the town seemed to be particularly drawn to the buildings, making schools in general a High Risk area. However, in a bizarre turn of events, not one ghost attack has been reported on any educational facility since the start of the surge of paranormal entities. Experts have yet to determine what could have caused such a shift in Ghost Hot Zones, but they believe that the cause may be the key to getting rid of the ghost problem in other areas of town." The skeptical, but slightly hopefully voice of Brad Storm resonated through the speakers of the old television as the camera quickly switched back to the two shot that had opened up the program; Shelly Makamoto on the left, Brad Storm on the right, both of them sitting behind a shinny news desk positioned in the center of the room. Brad nodded cordially through the camera to the people who were watching as he said a few parting words. The dim dramatic music in the background signaling the coming of a commercial break.  
"Please sick around, and we'll be back after a few short messages."

_Exactly seven cheesy, poorly constructed, and obnoxiously loud commercials later._

As in the beginning of the program a large red logo flew from the top left of the screen before it settled in the bottom left. In its wake a smiling Shelly Makamoto and stoic Brad Storm were revealed. Shelly Makamoto, receiving the cue to do so from behind the camera, started to speak. "Welcome back and thank you for staying with us. If you are just tuning in, it is currently 6:27, a typically chilly night on October 27th , 2010. Let's get back to the news." The vantage point once again changed so that only Brad Storm was visible as he started in on the remaining news stories for that evening.

"The sales of Ghost Defense weaponry have skyrocketed in recent weeks. As you know we started reporting on the common malfunctions of the machines due to the overwhelming amount of viewer demand. We have here for you tonight the latest list of Fenton Works merchandise malfunctions.

Once again we would like to recite that these products are non-refundable and upon purchase of any Fenton Works merchandise, the consumer has agreed that any and all blame that could have been held against Fenton Works is null and void." Once again a montage of pictures was displayed over the entire screen. The images displayed whichever corresponding product Brad Storm was reporting on. First was a picture of a very awkward looking gun. Its bubbly shape made it almost resemble a water gun.

"The Fenton Ecto-Squirter is a defensive weapon used to spray synthetic ectoplasm at any offending ghost causing a significant amount of pain to the forth mentioned ghost. Owners of the Fenton Ecto-Squirter should keep the gun away from stoves or any area of subsequent heat. The metals and ectoplasm that make up the guns components may be susceptible to a slight reformation when subjected to temperatures above 237 degrees. Subsequent reformation may cause leaks and render the machine ineffective. Also the screw on the upper left hand corner, side G, above the ammunition containment chamber may need retightening after repeated use. Do not ingest any amount of synthetic ectoplasm, if any is swallowed call the number provided in the instruction manual." There was a slight pause and the picture changed to that of a weird looking metallic belt.

"The Fenton Specter Deflector is a mechanized belt that, when worn, prevents the wearer from being overshadowed or touched by ghosts. Owners of a Fenton Specter Deflector produced between Saturday, October 17th and Tuesday, October 19th may experience a light tingling sensation in the fingers and toes. It is recommended if you have experienced these sensations that you refrain from further use of the belt. This is a slight malfunction that may indicate the belts ecto-sensor is misfiring. Continued use of the broken belt may cause the ecto-sensor to fail completely and shock the wearer with whatever voltage might have been intended for an offending ghost." There was a pause once again as the picture changed and a new device was displayed. This one looking something like a less advanced, homemade, GPS.

"The Fenton Ghost Tracker is used in the home to detect possessed objects and or people along with invisible ghosts. Owners of a Fenton Ghost Tracker purchased on Wednesday, October 21st may notice that the device has indicated all of the chocolate in the vicinity to be possessed by a ghost. This is not in fact the reality of the situation. The tracker was accidentally programmed during production to detect chocolate fudge and subsequently anything containing chocolate, along with ectoplasm. There is no way to tell if your chocolate is possessed or safe for consumption with this device. It is advised that you purchase a new Fenton Ghost Tracker to assure your candy is safe. However in an unexpected twist the chocolate detecting device has aided several mothers in figuring out whom exactly stole the cookie from the cookie jar." The montage ended as Brad Storm stopped his narration. The screen now returned to the shot of both Brad Storm and Shelly Makamoto behind their news desk. Shelly remained silent, giving her attention to her co-anchor, as Brad continued to speak.

"You can find a list of these products and others on our website at ." Brad Storm now stopped talking and looked to his feminine colleague on his left. Shelly Makamoto briefly spoke to introduce Lance Thunder, the weather man.

"We go now to Lance Thunder in the Weather Room for tomorrow's forecast. Lance." The image switched to that of a distracted and disgruntled blond male in his early thirties. He was standing in front of a wall or screen that displayed pictures to accompany what he would say about the coming weather. The man now displayed however, was woefully ignorant that everyone watching could now see what he was doing. Ignorantly, he continued with a conversation he had been having before he had been on the air.

"I'd like to see you come here and do the weather Chad! That was not funny! What if it was possessed, it could have caused some serious damage." There was a pause as there was a mumbled response from behind camera. Lance Thunder responded again, flippantly. "I don't know what a possessed microphone could have done, but I have covered enough Ghost related shit in this town to know it wouldn't be good!" Lance Thunder paused in his rage and his face fell as the audio device in his ear seemed to catch his attention. He briefly pressed the device closer to his ear so that he could hear it better before everything about him seemed to become depressed. Lance Thunder was very used to this sort of thing happening to him since he had been hired on in May of 2007. He only sighed, defeated, and forced an overly peppy demeanor as got on with the forecast that was displayed behind him; continuing as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you Shelly. This week it seems things will be getting even chillier. An unusual cold front seems to be developing right over Amity Park and moving to the west with the air currents. Temperatures should hover around in the low forties tomorrow and for the remainder of the week. Skies should remain relatively clear until a high pressure system rolls in about Thursday. The low pressure that the cold here in Amity is creating could mean potential for tornadic conditions as that high pressure moves our way. We'll be updating the forecast for you on our website. Shelly." Mercifully the program shifted the attention away from the unfortunate weather man and back to the main news desk. The shot now switched to that of Shelly Makamoto, smiling despite herself, at her co-workers misfortune.

"Thank you Lance. Rain, Sleet, or Snow the postal service are not the only ones continuing their work as the temperature continues its annual drop. Coming out of the woodwork to keep the town safe in this time of disconcerting events are a various number of freelance Ghost Hunters." Rather abruptly the humorous undertones that had colored the Asians facial expressions evaporated as she gathered herself and continued with the news report she had started.

"Already we have noted the courage and bravery of the town's own professional and most effective ghost hunters, Jack and Maddie Fenton. Without their innovative technology and efforts we would surely be in a tighter spot than we are today. Their inventions have helped people fight off ghosts all over town while their own skills have helped to deal with situation such as the one on Quietude Road.

Several teens however, with the technology of the Fenton's now more readily in their hands, have answered the call to help. Most notably a group of teen's that have assembled themselves in Casper High. The group is better known as Phantom's Phighting Phorce. A group of mere teenagers led by Paulina Sanchez and Dash Baxter, are taking it upon themselves to protect the town. As the crisis continues to digress more and more of their peers have come to join them in their fight, despite the scolding of authority figures for doing so. We go to Tiffany, Live, who is currently with the opportunity to speak to these courageous teens." The camera switched now without hesitation to the news team in the field. An image of three people appeared on the screen, all standing in front of an older looking high school; behind which the setting sun was hidden. There was a pause between the switch in camera views before anyone got the signal that they were now on the air. Tiffany Snow quickly started to speak as soon as she received her cue.

"Thanks Shelly. I am indeed here today with two amazing teenagers; Paulina Sanchez and Dash Baxter. Especially in the past week as we have seen the increase in the ghost threat, these two teens have virtuously and noticeably taken it upon themselves to ensure the towns safety." Tiffany Snow now turned away from the camera and focused on the two heroic teens she was interviewing. "Tell me, what prompted you to take such a drastic action? Why would you choose to put yourself in danger when you know next to nothing about ghosts or how to fight them?" Tiffany Snow jolted as Paulina Sanchez violently stole the microphone to speak. Her smile large and unnatural as she spoke, Paulina was making the most of her latest fifteen minutes of fame.  
"Well Tiffany, we just couldn't sit and do nothing when it was obvious that something needed to be done. People think that teenagers are mindless and can't do anything, but we can! I am captain of the cheer team, and president of the class, and I was voted the prettiest, and I founded the Danny Phantom Phan Club-." Paulina was cut off as Tiffany Snow abruptly reclaimed ownership of her microphone, having trouble concealing the fact that she was repulsed by the teen and her actions. As politely as she could, Tiffany steered the interview back to where it was meant to go.

"We can see you are very accomplished, but I was wondering more along the lines of what gave you the idea to start Phantom's Phighting Phorce in the first place? We all know that we are in dire times, but what made you think to start this group?" Dash Baxter's loud voice carried to the microphone. Tiffany Snow moved the microphone when she realized Dash was attempting to speak, so that he could continue properly.

"Well Danny Phantom of course." Tiffany quickly moved the microphone back to herself before it was back on Dash.

"How so?" Dash Baxter confidently beamed his star quarterback smile as he responded.

"Well we all know he's been gone recently. I'm sure he didn't mean to go and that he'll be back soon, but we could do something for him while he's gone. I mean with all the stuff he's done for us, especially here at the high school. He deserves it. Danny Phantom is so cool for fighting all those ghosts all the time. If he can do it, so can we. He'll be so impressed when he gets back, and then maybe he'll even fly me around or something-!" Having decided that the attention had not been focused on her for a good long while, Paulina took Tiffany by the wrist to maneuver the microphone so it was in her face again.

"The Ghost boy is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. He has saved me exactly seventeen times. I can keep his town safe for him while he is away and then he will realize that we were meant to be together. It's not like it's hard to catch all these ghost's." Tiffany got a confused look on her face as she heard the latino's last comment. As far as anyone had seen so far, Ghost Hunting was a difficult undertaking. Tiffany Snow and everyone else were curious to know about this young lady and how she seemed to come by this so naturally. Tiffany was about to regain control of her wrist to ask another question when a shrill voice cut in the background.

"_You little witch! You don't do ANYTHING! Me and Tucker do all the work while you steal all the notoriety. We get beat to shit while you sit on your ass like everyone else! All you do is run around with a _freaking gun like it's an accessory! I bet you've never even fired it!" The voice got closer and closer until finally the form of a teenage girl dressed in all black sprung from behind the camera and tackled the Latino to the ground. A few high pitched screams were heard before the shot was cut off and the picture of a shocked Shelly Makamoto back in the news studio replaced it. She quickly stuttered to life as she realized she was now on the air.

"I-It seems Tiffany is dealing with a few technical difficulties at the moment. Hopefully we can get things under control and bring you the remainder of that interview later in the program. In the mean time let's move on to our next segment, Brad." The camera view switched once again to that of Brad Storm.

"Thanks Shelly, and here's to hoping everyone makes it out of that one okay. Now onto our daily segment, 'Where is Danny Phantom'?" There was a short theme and a picture of the aforementioned superhero appeared on the upper right hand corner of the screen. "The disappearance of the town hero has caused tumult of feelings to be stirred up throughout the town. Some may feel angry at the teen; while others may feel grief or remorse, still others feel guilt at how they may have misinterpreted the teen's contribution and dedication to the town's wellbeing. Everyone however, can say that they would hope for the hero's return, as we can all now clearly see that we needed him more than we ever imagined." As Brad Storm continued his report he became more solemn. The shocked exhilarating tone that had carried over from the fight of the previous scene wore off, and the gravity of what he was reporting set in. Briefly he glanced down to his stack of papers before continuing with the report.

"In an effort to coax our hero out of wherever he may be we have started broadcasting the towns request for his return. We would now like to take this time to address Danny Phantom wherever he may be, in hopes that he will hear this message." For the third time in the hour a montage took up the space of the entire screen while a news anchor narrated in the background. Gallant footage of the hero was displayed on the screen for all to see. Reinforcing the message of apology that was about to be read.

"Danny Phantom, on behalf of all of Amity Park, we would ask for your return. We were woefully ignorant of your daily contribution to our safety until you were no longer there to provide it. For all that we took for granted we are sorry, and we never will again. We now realize exactly what you did for us without asking for anything in return. Only now that you are no longer here, do we truly realize how necessary you were to the town's safety. If you could find it within yourself to return, we all would be forever grateful. Also, on behalf of Action News we apologize for the villainous role we've mistakenly portrayed you in at times. We realize now that we were clearly mistaken. From all of Amity Park; Danny Phantom we ask humbly for your return." There was short pause allowing for the message to sink in. The looped video continued for a few moments without audio and everyone watching was allowed to reflect on what had just been said. Suddenly the montage of footage was cut off and the image was now back to Brad Storm sitting somewhat solemnly behind the news desk as he continued to speak.

"Since we started the segment this Sunday we have received an enormous amount of suggestions from viewers on how else we might attract the hero's attention and lure him out of hiding. People have also taken it upon themselves to get the hero's attention. Yesterday, we featured a young Henry Gillard, age seven. With his class' combine effort he released a whooping two hundred helium balloons into the sky with letters attached to them asking for the hero's return. Henry has of yet to hear from the ghostly hero.

Today we would like to mention the idea of one very creative sixth grader named Alice Tillman. On an innocent trip to the movie theater an idea struck her. Having just watched the most recent Batman movie The Dark Night, she had an idea as she walked by the theaters enormous spotlights out front on her way out. She and her friends contacted the theaters manager and gained permission to paint Danny Phantom's emblem on one of the spot lights; effectively shinning it on a low flying cloud and displaying the image to be seen in the sky or miles around.

The Batman-esk method of contact has brought a smile to many a faces and spurred others to do the same. In many neighborhoods parents have allowed children to do the same with flashlights shone on garage doors. Also as Halloween approaches many children have opted to carve their pumpkins with the iconic image in place of the traditional jack-o-lantern face." Brad finished the report and the shot returned to both Brad Storm and Shelly Makamoto sitting at the all important news desk once again. Shelly looked attentively to Brad as he continued to speak.

"We will now take a short commercial break as we arrive again at the top of the hour. Stay with us as-"

Abruptly the analog television went to static snow. As it had been for all of eternity time had moved forward. Inevitably, 6:59:59 had turned to 7:00:00. At the stroke of the new hour there was a high pitched noise just within the range of human hearing as a television in a plain dark room, behind a plain wood door, turned off. The crackle of the excess static electricity faded as the television settled back to its previous dormant state. The room was once again plunged into darkness. A darkness so thick that there were no walls, no windows, and no escape. Still no cords connected the television to any power source; still it was the only object in the room.

Still, time moved forward.


	35. Chapter 35: Beware!

AN:/ guys it's kinda short. I mean compared to some other chapters. I just really liked where this cut off. I dunno,and I really really like this chapter. I didn't want to add anymore onto the end of it because i feel like it would kind of spoil the effect. I dunno, I don't really have anything else to say...

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 35: Beware!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, January 21, 2011, 9:20PM_

_Edited: Monday, June 13, 2011, 10:44PM so that it would match the rest of the story.  
_

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**Danny's POV**

"Because I will be throwing a Halloween ball Daniel, I've been doing so for several years now." I just gaped at Vlad who had invited himself to sit next to me on my bed. I can't believe Vlad would actually throw a major party. I hadn't believed it when people first started asking me about it at school because I mean, this is Vlad we're talking about.

I had a difficult time at first, coming up with responses to comments like "What are you wearing to the party on Saturday?"; but I just rolled with it and said that I hadn't decided yet. When I could, I hopped onto the school networking site and figured out what the crap everyone was talking about. Turns out that everyone was operating under the delusion that Vlad had an annual Halloween party. This party, in the words of C00kieM0nster, was "The coolest and creppiest shit that happened all year." Or in the words of Golddie-Locks "It's the reason everyone is so scared of Masters, but he does throw a damn good party." Everyone at school knew about it, and everyone was invited. Of course since I was Vlad's "son" everyone assumed I knew about it, and it would be a given that I would be expected to show up.

I hadn't heard anything about the party yesterday because of course, all anyone would talk to me about yesterday was Jason and me knocking him unconscious. Now that that was "old news" though, there was nothing to stop people from bombarding me with questions. "What were me and Vlad going to wear? Had I seen any of the decorations? What were we going to have to eat? Was the Mansion really haunted?" The questions went on and on and I didn't know how to answer any of them. Of course Vlad had woefully neglected to tell me that on Saturday scores of people were going to be coming to the mansion for some sort of rave that apparently he was going to throw. You know, because Vlad is _such _a party animal.

"Daniel?" I snapped out of my thoughts to look at Vlad, who was apparently concerned by my silence. A flood of questions rushed to the front of my head. Had he already been preparing for it and I just didn't notice? When the crap had the month of October had time to happen? How long had he been throwing this party? How come I was never told about it? What was Vlad going to do with me when all of this was going on? Somewhere somehow I managed to narrow everything that wanted to come flooding out of my mouth down to one convenient little three letter word.

"Why?" Vlad looked genuinely perplexed back at me.

"Why what?" I blinked a few times and flung my arms around in exasperation as I stuttered out my response.

"W-Why have a freaking party? Why invite people over to your house? Why, as a half ghost, throw it on Halloween of all the holidays you have to choose from? You do realize just exactly how wrong it is for you to throw a Halloween party right?" Vlad got that creepy smirk over his face and he lightly chuckled as he responded to me.

"Oh come now Daniel, you of all people should be able to appreciate a little irony. You could almost call it an obligation of sorts. What sort of ghost would I be anyhow if I did not scare at least a few souls on All Hallows Eve?" I just sighed and let my head drop. Stupid freaking ghost traditions. I hated Halloween for it, I really did.

There is a reason that humans associate ghosts with Halloween. It's not because it's a human tradition or because Halloween is the left overs of some weird pagan ritual. In actuality, Halloween was created by ghosts. Every year something happens somewhere in the universe that makes it easier for ghosts to get from the Ghost Zone to the Human World. That's not why I hate Halloween though, you'd think that, but it's not.

Even though more ghosts are in the human world on Halloween, they all go out of their way not to touch or hurt humans. All they do once they get to the human world on Halloween is scare people. There's no world domination schemes, or claims of superiority, their only goal is to scare people. It's operates sort of like the Christmas truce only for humans, but not exactly; because the goal for a ghost is to scare people, you just aren't allowed to touch them in the process. So in reality, even though there are a ton of ghosts in the human world, I would sort of get a break. I guess Halloween could in theory be one of my favorite holidays because of this but it's not.

At first I was confused when I figured out that all ghosts do on Halloween is scare people. Really, you'd expect that with the division between the Ghost Zone and the Human World weakened I'd have a full scale invasion on my hands, but I don't. So I went into the Ghost Zone to try to figure out why.

It turns out that Halloween did not start out as a "lets scare the living shit out of everyone…literally" type deal. The annual rift between the Ghost Zone and the Human world was originally used mostly by well meaning ghosts who just wanted to check up on the world they left behind. Hey not all ghosts are evil, remember? However, every year, despite the ghosts' efforts to not be caught, some were seen by humans. A few funny human reactions later and eventually ghosts started going through the rift because they had discovered that scarring the crap out of humans was funny as hell.

As time continued to pass by, the tradition became something of a competition. Ghosts started seeing who could scare the most people or who could create the most havoc. And as with any competition, they developed rules; thus the "no hurting humans" rule. Because it makes the "game" a lot harder when you can't just twist someone's arm off to make them fear you, and it levels the playing field for the weaker ghosts. So really the only reason we don't have full blown chaos on our hands is because ghosts do tend to operate on some kind of twisted honor system. (Exhibit A: Skulker)

But wait I'm not done. Somewhere along the line, Ghosts made humans fear Halloween so much that the spirit of Halloween manifested itself in the Ghost Zone. Yup you guessed it, the Fright Night was born; his sole obsession being causing fear wherever he went. The only problem was that the Fright Night was too good at what he did, he always scared the most people and he sucked all the fun out of Halloween for other ghosts. So naturally the other ghosts decided to gang up on him and trap him in a jack-o-lantern, because irony must be a ghost thing.

None of this is why I hate Halloween though. The reason I hate Halloween is because of what happened after the first year I had my ghost powers and I let the Fright Night out of his pumpkin. Remember that the goal for a ghost on Halloween is to scare as many people as you possibly can. The scarier a ghost is the more demented sort of respect he gains from other ghosts. After my whole adventure with the Fright Knight though, ghosts started talking. Why would the infamous Danny Phantom release the Fright Night on Halloween? Eventually the word spread of why I had let the Fright Night out in the first place.

Because I am completely and utterly incapable of scarring anyone by myself.

I just can't scare people. No matter how hard I try I cannot get anyone to even jump a little bit. I've tried everything and no one is even remotely scared by me. I'm worse than the Box Ghost! Do you know how demoralizing it is to be worse than the Box Ghost at scaring people? Every freaking year I get crap for it from all the ghosts that come to the human world and I hate it. In some very weird twisted way it's extremely embarrassing because I'm a ghost and I can't scare _anyone_! It's not like I _want _people to be afraid of me on a regular basis; I work very hard to make sure that no one thinks I'm the bad guy. But to not even be able to get just a little scare out of someone, it's humiliating in a way I can't explain to you. It's like if you were a fire fighter and had a fear of water. It's just not even realistic!

"Daniel, is there something wrong? That's the second time I've lost you this conversation. Perhaps you need some extra rest. We can skip powers training for tonight if you would like." I sighed and let myself fall back on the bed. I can't believe I forgot that Halloween was even coming up so soon.

"No Vlad I'm fine." I rolled over and mumbled into the covers. "I just really really hate Halloween." I mentally smacked myself for saying that out loud when Vlad responded to my mumbled comment.

"Now why on earth would you hate Halloween dear boy?" I grumbled and grabbed a pillow to rest my head on as I flipped over so that I could answer Vlad. I briefly wondered why he didn't know about my 'scary problem' but I wasn't going to inform him if he didn't know. I could feed him a couple of other excuses to get him to lay off the subject though.

"I dunno maybe it has something to do with the fact that every year scores of ghosts come to the Amity to screw with everyone forcing me to work overtime. It might be that every year my parents cover at least thirty kids in ecto-goo and scar them for life. It might be because in my childhood I wasn't allowed to go trick or treating without a small arsenal strapped to my back because my parents were paranoid. Maybe it has to do with the fact that for the past two years a virtually toddler army of Danny Phantom's has overrun Amity Park; which is kind of creepy on my end. It might be because of those things but I'm not so sure." Vlad seemed to look thoughtful for a moment before he responded.

"I suppose those could all be valid reasons, though I was under the impression you might dislike the holiday because you are utterly incapable of eliciting even the slightest bit of fear out of anyone." I sat up and glared at Vlad. He had a laughing smirk on his face. "Oh come now Daniel, I'm close allies with the Fright Night himself. Surely you would have predicted I was informed on this matter. Even so the fact that you have not a terrifying bone in your body is common knowledge." I glowered at Vlad as he sat there, amused at my expense.

"Gee thanks for the confidence booster Vlad. I guess Halloween isn't that bad of a holiday after all." Vlad didn't withhold a small chuckle.

"Oh come now Daniel, surely something as trivial as that wouldn't prevent you from wanting to attend my annual Ball. You know I specifically throw it every year to gain a specific edge amongst my colleagues. There is a reason that people cautiously approach doing business with me, and that is because I re-instill that caution in my associates yearly on Halloween. You might like to use the party for a similar purpose." Yeah that might have been great except for the fact that I still couldn't scare anyone if the last half of my life depended on it. Nope, I'm pretty sure I still didn't want to go to this thing. Vlad might have been able to use a party setting like that to his advantage, but the most it would do for me is convince everyone that I'm a paranoid dork. The safest best plan for me was to hide in my room until the holiday was over. All I needed to do now was convince Vlad of that too. It was time to put my excuse making skills through their paces. They hadn't really had a good work out in a while anyway.

"I don't have a costume Vlad. From what I heard in school today, it's going to be a costume party. I can't go to a costume party without a costume. And I'm not going as Danny Phantom. I've already been Phantom for Halloween once and I do not plan on _ever _repeating the experience." Vlad scoffed lightly, looking at me with disbelief.

"You mean you have actually dressed up as Danny Phantom in your human form before?" I glared lightly at Vlad's teasing tone. When in my life was I going to learn to keep my mouth shut?

"I thought it would be funny and ironic; plus people in Amity are thick enough that they wouldn't put anything together. It was funny at first because people kept mistaking me for my other half. But after about the twelfth time I'd been told 'wow you look a lot like the real Phantom', it just got old. So it's safe to say I will not be dressing up as my ghost half on Halloween ever again. Which also means that I still don't have a costume, which means I can't go to your oh so famous 'Ball'." Vlad got over his hilarity enough to counter what I had said.

"Daniel, really you should anticipate that I have these sorts of things taken care of by now. I already had a costume tailored for you. Even if I had not, it certainly wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that I could have one made for you in time. We still have four days." We're going to skip past the fact that Vlad is a fruitloop for already having my costume made for me without me even knowing there was going to be a reason to wear one, and skip right to the important information he conveniently left out of his explanation.

"What kind of costume." Vlad got this cat like smirk on his face. I shifted a little bit. I knew from experience that 'cat like smirk' really means 'proceed with caution'.

"Well I suppose it's to your benefit that you and I are fond of this sort of irony. After hearing about your previous choice to dress as your ghost half on Halloween, I don't doubt you'll find my selection entertaining." I rolled my eyes impatiently. Vlad could be so full of himself sometimes.

"Vlad just tell me what it is." Vlad however, decided he wasn't done yet.

"Now Daniel you're ruining my fun. You don't even want to try and guess?" my answer to his question was flat.

"No." Vlad sighed.

"Very well, we'll do this the hard way then. I'm not telling you what costume you will be wearing until you take a guess." I just groaned and let my arms hang from my shoulders.

"Vlad, common. This is stupid." Vlad just coyly smirked at me.

"Only because you didn't try to guess when I asked the first time." I sighed and let my head fall for a minute. I had been here and done all of this before. I was in one of Vlad's little traps and I wasn't getting out until I did what he wanted. Mentally sighing I tried to think of something ironic for me to be for Halloween and immediately blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

"Superman?" Vlad raised an amused eyebrow at my guess.

"I'm afraid not. Though I suppose that would be rather ironic wouldn't it? Superman is far too cliché for my tastes however." I just rolled my eyes.

"Says the half ghost who insists on throwing a Halloween Party." Vlad merely nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Touché"

"Vlad common, I guessed. Just tell me what you're going to dress me up as." Vlad spoke to me next in a condescending tone.

"Daniel you speak as if you were merely a doll to play dress up with."

"Vlad!" I was going to lose it here pretty quick if Vlad didn't hurry up and freaking tell me what sort of retarded outfit I was going to have to wear. Vlad rolled his eyes at my impatience.

"Daniel calm down, we must work on that patience." I glared at Vlad as he sent me a sidelong look. "I thought The Phantom of the Opera would do nicely for you Little Badger." Who the heck was the Phantom of the Op… wait that was that one guy from that one play. It wasn't even a play, it was a freaking Opera! As in fat ladies breaking wine glasses with bad singing while wearing Viking helmets! Vlad did not seriously expect me to dress up a character from some famous opera. He had to think I was as loopy as he was to even consider making me wear that.

"Vlad, I am not dressing up as the Phantom of the Opera." Vlad still had a laughing look in his eye but I could tell he was slightly put off by my blatant rejection.

"Sure you will. It's a classic and respected musical Daniel. You should learn to trust me in these matters. You won't stick out of the crowd in any way, I assure you. Believe it or not I did put some thought into this." I sputtered at Vlad. He really just did not get it.

"That's not my problem Vlad. My problem is with the fact that you expect me to dress up as a character from some girly 'musical' or whatever. Do you want people to question whether I'm straight?" Vlad dropped any humor that he had previously been holding in his face in favor of annoyance.

"Daniel, people will not question your orientation if you were a costume from a traditional and esteemed musical for one night. You are being ridiculous, and just for proposing such an idea you've lost the option of choosing another attire." My mouth fell open a little bit. He couldn't be serious.

"Wait, you never told me I had an option!" Vlad only looked at me disconcertingly.

"Well I thought it would be obvious. I wasn't going to force you to wear anything. However your previous comments have lead me to believe that there is an opportunity for you to learn something here." I flung my arms up in the air. I really couldn't believe Vlad was doing this right now.

"What am I possibly going to learn from wearing some fruity musical costume?" I could tell Vlad was getting tired and annoyed with my arguing.

"It certainly would teach you a thing or two about appreciating the arts. I don't know where you got the notion that appreciating culture was wrong, but I fully intend to correct that notion." I whined and let my head sink.

"This so isn't fair."

"Life isn't fair Daniel." I picked my head up to glare at Vlad. I still had a way out of this. I wouldn't have to go to this Halloween party or wear that stupid costume. All I needed was one loophole. A small grin came over my face as I came up with the perfect one.

"Okay Vlad fine, let's forget the fact that Halloween in general is already incredibly humiliating. What are you going to do about people seeing me? I don't know how you got people to keep quite with the fact that I exist at school, but there is no way that you are going to keep a group of adults from noticing the fact that you have suddenly got an heir. I can't go because that would mean that people would figure things out." I held down a proud smirk in favor of my angry glare. There was no way Vlad was getting around this one. The fact that I had to stay hidden was too important. I started to become nervous though, when Vlad teasingly raised his eyebrows at me.

"Well I do suppose that is a rather valid concern little badger. However it is a concern that I have previously dealt with. Trust me Daniel. I have my ways of handling these things. It is not of your concern." I heaved a sigh. Great, more illegal stuff. What other 'way' could Vlad possibly have that he would want to keep from me? Well fine, whatever. It wasn't like I was going to stop him anyway. I decided to ignore it for now.

I was back to square one and I still needed an excuse. I racked my brain for something I could use to get myself out of this. I looked to Vlad in frustration only to see him smirking at me amusedly. I grumbled under my breath about the stupidity of this whole thing before I went back to trying to come up with a solution.

"Daniel, there is no way out of this. You are going to attend the ball. I have already covered all of the bases and then some. You aren't going to find anything to take advantage of and you know it. Now kindly cease these dramatics." Vlad rolled his eyes and I only glared stubbornly. I wouldn't have this! There had to be something that would get me out of this. Or at least something that would level the playing field…

That's when it hit me. Oh it was perfect. This was just _too _perfect. There was no way Vlad could get around this. If Vlad was going to make me suffer through this; he was damn well going to be suffering with me.

"Okay Vlad, I'll go to your weirdo little Halloween Ball in the Phantom of the Opera costume you insist that I wear on one condition." Vlad's eyebrows shot up in speculation. Clearly he didn't believe that I had anything up my sleeves. I was so going to enjoy this.

"Do pray tell what condition that would be."

A very evil smile cracked over my face. I could tell Vlad was taken aback by it and that only made me grin wider. Sure I was the hero, but I could definitely have my moments.

" You, cheese head, are going to let me pick out _your_ costume." Shock played out over Vlad's face for a nanosecond before he was back to holding himself in his usual way. He was now was matching my evil smile, though I guess he had it down better than I did. There was something else in his usual evil smirk though. I couldn't place it exactly but I've seen it before. It reminded me of that smile he had yesterday at school when he gave me my brief case.

"And just how do you plan to get me to do so little badger? What are you going to do, threaten to not attend the Ball? I can easily make you do so by using the Plasmius Maximus and make you go regardless." I glared slightly as Vlad threatened to use that stupid device on me. I mean common, 'Plasmius Maximus'? And he thinks 'Ghostly Wail' is lame…

"You are going to let me pick your costume because if you don't I won't hesitate to completely ruin any and all attempts you make to be scare people. Believe me when I say that my knack for not scarring people is contagious. I don't even have to use my ghost powers for that. All I have to do is be in your vicinity the entire time." I thought I had totally gotten Vlad in a corner with my threat, but I couldn't help but doubt myself when Vlad reacted to what I had said by practically glowing in happiness. I had never seen him smile so huge in my life. He swelled, beaming like an idiot at me. All I could do was sit there and be extremely extremely confused. I just gave him an ultimatum, weren't you supposed to get upset when someone gave you one of those? What the heck was wrong with him? I didn't get the chance to ask before Vlad started talking, mostly to himself.

"And so I'm left with four options. Let you remain absent from the ball, in your room or invisible as Phantom above the crowd; which is what you wanted in the first place. Let you choose what I will be wearing, effectively reaping revenge for what I am going to make you wear. Let you choose your own costume, which is also what you wanted and would get you out of my supposed 'punishment' of making you wear the costume I chose. And lastly I could deny you the pleasure of choosing my attire, but the ball itself would then lose its purpose as my means of ensuring my continued superiority, undoubtedly because of your efforts to nullify any attempts at terror I might make." Vlad seemed to look to me to confirm if what he had just said was right. To be honest I hadn't thought of the 'staying in my room or invisible at the party' option, or the 'letting me choose my own costume' option. But hey whatever it was working to my advantage so I wasn't going to say anything. That didn't men I wasn't still confused about why Vlad was happy. I couldn't find any way for him to get out of this. Why the heck was still smiling? I'd just beaten him right? I just waited for Vlad to come back to earth for a minute and was not disappointed when the eagle finally landed.

"I cannot express how proud of you I am at this moment." My face immediately dropped. He was p-proud?

"What?" Vlad just continued to smile like absolutely nothing was going to ruin his day.

"Not only did you cut off any and all options I might have had to refuse your demands, but you used what others considered a weakness as one of your strengths to accomplish that end. I myself could not have orchestrated a more devious or resourceful plan. Do not take that compliment lightly Daniel. I do believe this is the first situation where I truly could not have done it better myself." I just continued to sit there and gape. I had done it? I had finally out-witted Vlad? I had beaten him at his own game and he was _proud _of me for it? I finally managed to stutter to life.

"Y-you really mean that?" Vlad chuckled lightly. The happiness in the sound erased whatever doubt I might have had that he was 'letting me win' or something like that.

"I mean it with all the sincerity in the world." I just continued to stare. I mean I had _thought_ I had beaten him when I made my ultimatum but there was still that part of me that was expecting Vlad to find some way out of it and shoot me down, just like he always did. I guess I never _really_ expected to finally have the upper hand. I felt a swell of self-confidence as I realized that Vlad was _proud of me._ I had to be worth something if Vlad was going to say that he was proud. All my attention went to Vlad as he started tog et up off the bed. "Come now Daniel, I do believe you've warranted some celebrating. Let's get down to dinner shall we? I can have Eduardo prepare whatever you would like. I think tonight we'll have dessert as well." It took me a minute but I eventually got my brain to tell my legs to move so that I was getting up off the bed. I followed Vlad as he held the door to my room open and we started to walk down the hallway. Not being able to stop himself from taking advantage of my bafflement any more Vlad made a comment as we started walking towards the dining room.

"Surprised yourself little badger? I always knew you had it in you of course, and quite the little mastermind you turned out to be. Before you know it you'll be making evil plans and conquering the world at my side. Yes, I couldn't be more proud." I looked up and saw that Vlad was giving me a playful smirk. I gave him a skeptical look which only caused him to chuckle and wrap an arm around my shoulder with a gentel squeeze. I was about to open my mouth and say something in a snappy comeback, but I stopped myself. Vlad was practically radiating happiness in a way I don't think he had in a long time. I couldn't bring myself to rain on his parade; even if it were only for our regular witty banter.

I'd tell Vlad later that I had Dracula costume in mind.


	36. Chapter 36 Ready? Trust Fall!

AN/: No I have not abandon this story. Though my muse has. I had to pretty much shoot myself in the foot to get this done. I don;t know what happened. I swear to god I wrote this chapter like three different times before I came up with this. I'm really sorry I haven't updated in ages. It was just like all of the sudden I was so written out and I couldn't get myself to write anything good anymore. So I took a break. Then I came back to things and I felt really out of it. I don't know you guys can be the judge of things. Anyway, you all should go back and re-read chapter 35 because I made some major changes that affect the Ball in this chapter and in chapter 37. You have been warned.

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**Running to the Enemies Arms**

Chapter 36: Ready? Trust Fall!

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, June 13, 2011, 10:49PM_

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**IMPORTANT:** Re-read chapter 35. I went back and made some significant changes. It is crucial that you go and read what I changed to understand what the hell is going on.

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**Danny's POV**

Me and Vlad were in the main kitchen inspecting all of the food that was being made for tonight. People, all in the same classic chef's white get-up, were bustling around each other, shouting out commands and asking for various things; occasionally there would be this loud beeping as a timer went off.

Why was I in the kitchen inspecting the food with Vlad? Easy, I was bored. And I couldn't get back to sleep after I woke up. That always happens. Whenever something big is going to happen I can never get to sleep. Anyway, I didn't really have that much to do and I figured I might as well tail Vlad while he was getting everything ready. That way I could be better prepared for tonight too.

The whole thing was really something to watch. Besides the fact that everyone looked at Vlad with fear it was funny to watch all of the people that went by go out of their way to stay out of a three foot radius where Vlad and I were standing. Wherever Vlad went everyone was very careful to leave him at least a three foot radius of personal space. It was like he was keeping up a personal force field. He wasn't though because I hadn't felt or run into one when I got closer to check.

Right now Vlad was inspecting a plate of little miniature pumpkins. Vlad had been staring at the plate of little cream puff thingies for a good long time now. I had watched Vlad do this 'inspecting' thing long enough today to know that if you weren't rudely dismissed right away, then there was something wrong. Honestly I don't know what Vlad was finding wrong with the little desserts. There were about thirty of them all arranged in a circular pattern on a serving tray that would be carried around later tonight. Each and every one had been painstakingly constructed with intricate vines and leaves coming off the top and a little poof of brown frosting that had had the top cut off of it to look like the stem. There was a faint gold dusting on them to give them dimension and the orange they were made of was just the perfect shade to set the whole thing off. They all looked perfect to me. Seriously I was torn between wanting to eat one and not wanting to mess them up because they looked so perfect.

The guy who I guess had made them was standing on the other side of the stainless steel counter waiting for what Vlad would have to say. He looked pretty average. He was in about his mid twenties with short brown hair and an average build. He probably wasn't half bad to look at when he wasn't red as a tomato and having trouble breathing. Finally Vlad finished studying the tray and looked up to the guy. Vlad's face was the picture of casual conversation, like absolutely nothing was wrong and he was going to maybe even give the guy a compliment. I always wondered how Vlad could switch his facial expressions like that. I'd have to ask him some time. Maybe he took an acting class or something? Anyway, the fact that Vlad didn't look mad seemed to calm the guy down a little bit. I wanted to tell the guy not to let his guard down that it was really all a trick to make him look stupid when Vlad did get mad. I'd seen Vlad do this little routine today already so I knew what was coming. The calmer Vlad got the more worried you should be.

Vlad sluffed up his sleeve and delicately with his index finger and thumb picked up one of the little desserts; his other hand held regally behind his back. I watched in anticipation as Vlad slowly turned the treat around in his hand like he was casually inspecting it. His eyes went from the mini pumpkin he was holding, back to the guy standing behind the counter. The guy was hanging on Vlad's every breath just waiting for what he would have to say. Honestly the fact that the guy was so nervous almost made me a little disgusted.

"Tell me, Jacob, did you have any leftover brown frosting when you were done making the four hundred of these like I had instructed?" The guy gulped before he opened his mouth clearly unsure of what the right answer was. Unfortunately for him there was no right answer. It was a trick question. Even by the way that Vlad had asked the question there was no way to tell what he wanted by asking it. That was another thing I was going to ask Vlad how to do eventually. I'd have to start making a list of things I was going to ask Vlad at this rate.

By the look on the guy's face I'd say he'd decided to go with the truth, which was a very good choice on his part. Based on my experience today, you always got yourself into more trouble by lying and trying to cover up your mistakes. The guy gulped nervously before he forced the words he wanted to say out of his mouth.

"Yes. I always make a little extra, just in case." Vlad nodded his head once before raising his eyebrow like he was innocently curious about something.

"So then you must have a valid explanation as to why this pumpkin's stem is shorter than its counterparts." When Vlad said this, the guy's eyes frantically went from the little pumpkin in Vlad's hands to the ones on the counter. Obviously he was trying to see the difference that Vlad had been able to pick out in the stems height. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water; grasping for an explanation. Vlad tilted his head slightly before he went on executing this guy's humiliation.

"No? I see… Jacob come around to my side of the counter." Jacob seemed to gasp for only a moment before he was hurrying along his side of the counter and rounding the corner to come within that magical three foot radius. Vlad stuck out the hand that was holding the ordurve as if offering it to the guy.

"Put this on the floor behind you for me." I looked at Vlad weirdly when I heard what he asked this Jacob guy to do. I didn't have a clue as to why Vlad would want the little dessert on the floor, or more specifically _behind_ Jacob on the floor. Jacob nervously glanced from the pumpkin in Vlad's hand to Vlad once again before he slowly reached out to take the little pumpkin. He was obviously doing his best not to touch or even breathe the same air as Vlad while he did so. His hand was shaking so much I was honestly surprised that he didn't accidentally throw the pumpkin up against the wall.

Once the pumpkin was out of Vlad's hand Jacob very quickly set it on the floor close behind him; springing back to attention when he had done as Vlad asked. Vlad peered around the guy to look at the little pumpkin on the floor. Really it did look kind of funny. I mean, this pumpkin looked every bit like the real thing and it was just so radically out of proportion with everything else that was in the kitchen. Vlad took his attention fully away from the treat on the ground and back to Jacob.

"You've no doubt been standing all day Jacob; your legs must be tired. Why don't you have a seat?" Dumbly Jacob looked around him for a chair to sit in, eager to please. My eyes got wide as I realized what Vlad was going to have this Jacob person do. I glanced back and forth between Vlad and Jacob. Vlad was smirking with delight and Jacob was having trouble keeping himself from visibly shaking. There was no way that this guy was going to allow himself to be humiliated like this. I mean I had been watching Vlad humiliate people all day. He had insulted people to their faces and nobody had yet to stand up to him. Every single one of them just took it. Most of them even apologized! But I mean there was a line right? There had to a point where someone would refuse to take Vlad's crap. Finally Jacob found a chair and started to move to go sit in it. Vlad stopped him before he could move his feet.

"Right here on the floor will be fine Jacob. You're still young. You can handle that sort of thing." Jacob stared dumbly for a moment at Vlad before he nodded and slowly twisted around to reach behind him and pick up the pumpkin that was in the spot he would sit once he was on the floor. You know, because that's the logical thing to do to avoid getting mini pumpkin dessert all over your butt. The guy didn't realize that the desert was there for a reason.

"Ah ah ah. Did I tell you to move the ordurve?" Jacob froze on his way to the ground leaving him in a sort of half bent over half twisted around position. After a moment Jacob's head slowly shook back and forth.  
"Then I believe you are bright enough to leave it there and fill my request, hm?" My mouth fell open when Jacob merely nodded his head and moved to sit on the little cream dessert. Carefully Jacob positioned himself to sit directly on top of the little pumpkin. I looked to Vlad; completely not believing what I was seeing. This guy was seriously going to sit on a little dessert pumpkin because _Vlad told him to._ Vlad only smirked at me as if to say 'I told you so'.

I continued to just gape at this Jacob guy who was now sitting on the floor turning a shade of purple. I was torn between laughing hysterically and yelling at him for being such a wuss. The thought was having serious trouble making it through my brain that someone would willingly humiliate themselves like that without even a threat of punishment. Vlad raised his eyebrows at my reaction before he pulled up slightly on his pant legs to crouch down and be at Jacob's eye level.

"Now Jacob, can I be assured that you will not be making any more mistakes?" Jacob now wouldn't dare look Vlad in the face. He stared at his own lap and nodded not able to even give Vlad a verbal response. Vlad grinned mischievously at Jacob before he stood back up and spoke in a loud voice to address the entire kitchen.

"Anything less than perfection, everyone, is not an option. I see anything come out of this Kitchen that is less than perfect and you will have more than this fate to worry about. Carry on." Vlad's voice carried over the stainless steel and chrome effortlessly. Though it wasn't like anyone was straining to hear what he was saying. It wasn't until now that I noticed, but while Vlad was busy 'punishing' Jacob everyone had stopped to witness what was going on. As a result it had gotten quite and nobody had had to strain to hear what Vlad said.

Though the stillness didn't last long. With a burst of motion the Kitchen swung back into motion at Vlad's command. Shouts, beeping, and sizzling filled the air once more. I turned to back to Vlad only to find him already walking towards the door. I jogged a little to catch up. I still couldn't believe what I had seen. As soon as we were outside the Kitchen and in the carpeted hallway all of the noise died away. Needing to say _something_ about the complete waste of time, dignity, and dessert I had just witnessed; I blurted out the first thing that came into my head.

"You could have at least let me eat it, you know." Vlad looked to me for a beat before he let out a hearty laugh. I couldn't help but smile a little bit when he did. I could tell that Vlad didn't get to laugh like that very often. Vlad quickly gathered himself to respond to my comment.

"You can have as many as you like tonight Daniel. I'm sure Jacob will be going through the batches that he's already made and replacing several. You can have the extra." I just shrugged and continued to walk along side Vlad. I was about to put my hands in the pockets of my jeans before I remembered that I wasn't supposed to. I had decided to wear a buttoned up oxford and a tie today, with my jeans. It was a compromise with what Vlad would have me wear, sort of. I decided I'd vent more of my frustration of what had just happened as we walked down the hallway.

"I just don't see why that was even necessary. I couldn't find anything wrong with the things. I still don't understand how you saw that little of a detail in the first place. And it's not like anyone else would have noticed it anyway." I shook my head slightly at the lack of reason for what Vlad had done. As I was shaking my head I caught Vlad smirking coyly out of the corner of my eye. It was the look on his face that sent a single possibility blazing through the front of my head.

"There wasn't even anything wrong with that dessert was there?" at my comment Vlad's mischievous smirk only grew bigger and more obvious. So basically, yes, there hadn't been anything wrong with any of the desserts. He had made the whole thing up just for his own amusement. I grabbed my head and dragged my hands down my face in disbelief. A low moan escaped my mouth as I grumbled to myself about the total fruitloopiness of the person walking next to me. Vlad laughed at my reaction.

"Oh come now Daniel there was no _real _harm done, and what's wrong with a little fun now and then? Besides I'm sure there's bound to be a mistake somewhere in the batch of ordurves he_ didn't _bring out to show me. It's not like I was making some radical claim, and he made a perfect example of what would happen upon failure; ensuring that tonight I will receive optimum performance from the entire kitchen staff." I just shook my head again and brought my head up to face Vlad.

"So you felt it was necessary to pick out this one guy because you wanted to make sure that everyone was doing their best? Vlad there are other ways to get people to work hard, you don't have to threaten them." I stared at Vlad in disdain. He glanced to me while bobbing his head, acknowledging what I had said.

"Yes I am perfectly aware there are other ways to get people to perform at their peak. I could offer a positive incentive or be a 'nice person to work for' however I find those methods much more trouble than they are worth. If I made myself easily approachable people would feel more comfortable trying to leech off of my wealth in any way they can. I find that I have enough of that problem as it is." I looked away from Vlad when he made his point. It was a good one, honestly. It had not gone unnoticed by me that everyone we'd talked to today practically worshipped the dirt that Vlad walked on. The whole thing was seriously demented and overrated. I mean really? Yeah that Jacob guy probably didn't deserve to be called out by Vlad like that, but he never once stood up for himself or looked like he had any self respect. It was disgusting to watch; people completely abandon any sense of self importance they might have had when Vlad walked into the room. They didn't even know that Vlad was half ghost and could literally tear them apart if he wanted. The only reason they were acting like that was because Vlad had money and influence. It was like one giant super amplified version of what happens to me at school. I had figured out really quickly that the only way to get people to back off and give me some freaking space, was to be cold. Really, I had tried being subtle and nice about it at first, but it didn't work. People either didn't get the hint or didn't care that I was giving the hint in the first place. I guess I could kind of understand why Vlad would need to be mean.

I looked back up to Vlad to find him grimacing to himself, probably for the same reason I was. Still, I had to draw the line somewhere. What Vlad did back there was still pushing it.

"Okay fine, I get it, but you could have at least picked someone who was actually making a mistake and wasn't already about to wet himself just because you were there." Vlad turned to me as a smirk curled onto his face at my comment. I only raised my eyebrows a little bit in response. Vlad opened his mouth.

"Did I hear correctly little badger? Are you suggesting that my actions were justified? Whatever happened to protecting the innocent?" My eyes widened at how Vlad was twisting my words. I hadn't said that! A moment later I realized that Vlad just wanted to play a game of wits. A teasing glare settled onto my face as I responded.

"I don't think you were listening close enough, I _am_ on the victim's side. When did I ever say that Jacob got what he deserved? He was completely innocent and the only reason his butt is covered in orange frosting is because you were bored. He didn't even do anything wrong. Don't try and give me any of that 'ensuring optimum performance', crap either. You were bored and I could tell. You can't go around humiliating people for no reason. That's just cruel." Vlad looked to me with one of his eyebrows raised. There was this smile on his face like he was secretly amused with something. I made sure to pay close attention to what he said because of it.

"Fine you've caught me. I certainly did think there was a need for an amount of entertainment. I was operating under the pretense that someone who so obviously feared me deserved to have their beliefs vindicated. However it's apparent that you think that there was someone who deserved to be humiliated more than Jacob. Do tell who that might be?" Vlad looked at me like he was challenging me to come up with a better option than Jacob. I thought for a minute to make sure that I picked out the right person from my not-so crystal clear memory of what had just happened. I hadn't really been paying attention to the rest of the room.

"There was that one girl over in the corner. She was kind of bigger and she didn't really look like she was doing anything when we walked in. She wasn't really wearing her hairnet all the way either and that's kind of gross. You could have picked her." I looked up to Vlad to see what he would have to say. He just looked at me like he was unimpressed before he rolled his eyes the tiniest bit and turned forwards again. I sighed. Crap I probably should have paid more attention to the room we were in. There was probably a person that wasn't doing what they were supposed to _at all_ and I had missed them or couldn't remember. I spoke up again; hoping to redeem myself a little.

"Okay so I can't really remember if there was anyone in the room that would have deserved it, but that's not important. I mean, messing with someone like that for a laugh is sort of lame anyway. Really, even _I_ figured out how to work that prank a long time ago. Now that I think about it, it's kind of stupid that you didn't pull something more complicated. If your goal is to get _a group _of people to back off or work hard you should have done something that would have affected the entire room. You can make invisible duplicates right? Why didn't you just… What?" I stopped as I heard Vlad start to chuckle beside me. I was pretty sure I hadn't said anything funny. Vlad turned to me again as we rounded a corner.

"No no, please do continue to tell me how wrong it was for me not to have pulled something more elaborate in the kitchen. Really, I was starting to see things from your point of view. Why should I hold back when I can really do so much more? Next time I'll be sure to follow your advice little badger." I stopped and my mouth fell open. I was about to protest and say that I hadn't said anything like that when it occurred to me that; yes, yes I had. I had been just about to explain to Vlad how it was stupid that he didn't take full advantage of the opportunity to pull something over on everyone in the Kitchen. Vlad continued down the hallway with his hands behind his back, laughing to himself. I blinked a few times before I snapped out of it and jogged to catch up with him.

"Get back here fruitloop!" Vlad slowed slightly so and I quickly leveled off beside him. Vlad sent me a glare, obviously for me having called him a fruitloop. I sent one right back.

"Hey, I told you multiple times now that I don't like your stupid pet name. You keep calling me little badger and I'm going to start calling you fruitloop." Vlad scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Oh Daniel, what are we going to do with you? It's true you have made a great deal of progress but you still have so far to go before you're up to par. We'll continue to work on it I suppose." I was about to ask what the heck Vlad was talking about when we rounded another corner. As soon as we did anything I had been previously thinking zipped out of my head. When we had turned the corner we had walked into the entranceway to the ballroom. It was a short but wide hallway that connected the hallway we had just been in to the actual ball room. The area kind of felt something like a lobby area. The floors and walls were made of stone, like an actual castle might be. All of the individual stones were carved to fit perfectly together so that there wasn't any grout in between any of them. The ceiling was at least two stories tall and was made of a really dark aged wood. There were windows that went up the length of the wall. Inside and framing the windows were iron bars that looked less than safe the way they twisted and bent up towards the ceiling. I had been about to stop to take in the whole scene when I felt a gentle hand on my back urging me forward. I glanced to Vlad for a second to see him smiling at me. Wanting to get a better look at the room before we moved through the stone arch to the actual ball room, I ripped my gaze away from Vlad. There was a guy on a ladder along the side of the wall. When I looked it was clear that he was putting up these really creepy looking torches in the spaces between each of the windows. The only other person in the room besides the man hanging lights, me, and Vlad, was a woman who was very diligently sweeping the huge floor.

Again my attention was demanded somewhere else as I heard an engine like a lawnmower start up. The noise was huge as it bounced off of the rock floors and ceilings. It was obvious that the noise was coming from the other side of the stone arch that me and Vlad were about to pass though. I looked up to Vlad again and he only continued to smile down at me. Deciding to let the curiosity get the better of me I let myself be guided into the ball room by Vlad whose hand was still on my back.

As soon as we passed through the stone arch it was obvious where the noise was coming from. It was a surprisingly small red generator that looked to be hooked up to some other kind of air compressor with all kinds of tubes and cords. The tubes lead to a group of three people on ladders spraying some fine gray dust on the windows on the left side of the room. The windows themselves matched the ones in the weird hallway, with the same twisting sharp iron bars; the only difference was these windows had to be at least three stories tall. I don't know what the guys were doing to the windows but the ones they had already finished working on looked like they had been aged a hundred years in some haunted house, while the ones they hadn't gotten to yet still looked sort of 'castle like' and clean. My attention was drawn away from the guys by the windows as another guy started to walk towards me and Vlad. He had a protruding beer gut, a bristly beard, and mustache. As the guy walked towards us he pulled at some papers that he was holding under his arms. As everyone was that got within at least ten feet of Vlad, he was nervous. Though I had to say this guy was handling the close proximity to Vlad much better than the Jacob guy was. Whoever this guy was it was apparent that he was in charge of whatever was going on in the room.

"Mr. Masters, good to see you! I hope everything is to your liking thus far. Everything has gone off without a hitch and we're actually ahead of schedule." I looked to Vlad as he nodded curtly to the man now standing at the edge of that oh so impenetrable three foot radius.

"Very good Martin, very good. Though you understand I will be taking a look around regardless." Martin nodded enthusiastically and opened up his arms to gesture around the room where more than five different things must have been going on at once.

"Of course. What would you like to see first?" Vlad seemed to look around the room for moment, taking everything in, before he turned to me.

"What would you like to see first Daniel?" My mouth opened and closed in surprise as I looked back and forth between Vlad and the manager guy. Vlad just looked at me expectantly while the manager person looked like he was being thrown for the same loop I was. Finally I snapped out of it long enough to pick something to go 'inspect'. Okay whatever; I guess I could handle this. I glanced around the room and my eyes quickly fell on a bedroom sized white tent in the middle.

"What's that?" Vlad got an amused smirk on his face and turned back to the manager person.

"We'll be seeing the chandelier first then." The manager guy looked from Vlad to me and then to Vlad again as he blinked and nodded.

"Okay, then right this way." I followed Vlad and the other guy and we quickly came to a stop as the manager person had to open a slot in the tent for us to walk through. I hadn't been able to tell from further away, but up close it was clear that the inside of the tent was completely sealed off from the outside. By now I was really curious as to what exactly was going on with this supposed, 'chandelier'. First it's in a tent and now the tent it's in has to be sealed off for some reason? Yeah I thought it was weird too.

The manager person held open the flap he had just unsealed for us to walk through. When Vlad didn't immediately go through I looked over to see what he was doing. He nodded with his head for me to go through first. Slightly apprehensive about what exactly I would be finding on the other side I looked back to where the tent was being held open and was careful not to get snagged up in anything as I stepped through. Vlad was right behind me. As soon as we were through the manager person started resealing the door.

On the inside of the tent, the noise from the air compressor died away slightly, but not much. As soon as the four people on the inside of the tent realized who had stepped through they all stopped their laughing and chatter. None of this seemed to phase Vlad so I tried not to let it phase me either. I turned my attention to the massive chandelier in the center of the tent. It had to be at least as tall as Vlad if not taller. The diameter I would guess had to have been six feet. At least it was apparent now why the tent that housed it had to be so big. The light fixture was huge. Though I guess it had to be if it was going to realistically light the equally huge ball room.  
The entire thing was covered in hanging crystals that surrounded currently unlit candles. The metal that held everything together was a brushed gold that didn't look tacky despite the shear amount of it. The fixture was currently being held up by a kind of wood makeshift tripod thing, but there was an obvious place for a chain to be hooked up so that it could be hung from the ceiling later. I jumped slightly as the manager person started talking on the other side of Vlad.

"So, we've already refitted the electrical sockets with candle holders like the chandelier originally had. We just got in the shipment of fifty eight Black Widows and are in the process of getting them on the chandelier, as you can see. I imagine it will be a couple of hours before they finish their job and we can get the chandelier back on its chain and ready to be lit for tonight." My eyes got wide when I heard what I thought I heard. I searched the tent for the deadly insects and unfortunately I wasn't disappointed. The team of four people that had been in the tent before were carefully hustling back and forth between a small table with a large stack of jewelry sized cardboard boxes next to it, and the chandelier. I watched the process, in shock more than anything.

A person would walk over to the table gently grab one of the small cardboard boxes and carefully pry it open. The person would then stick one of their gloved hands into the box and carefully remove a shiny black spider on their fingertips. Next they would glide over towards the Chandelier and wait patiently for the spider to walk off of their hands and onto the glittering crystals.

I looked closer on the chandelier itself and saw that there were already a lot of spiders on the thing. Every once in a while the right light would be caught in some of the spiders' web and it would flash into visibility before it was gone again and you couldn't tell it had ever even been there. I was shaken from analyzing everything again when Vlad started to talk.

"Very good. Though I am slightly concerned that the chandelier will not be sufficiently covered in time for the Ball, is there any way that we could perhaps encourage these specimen to spin their webs a small deal faster?" I just blinked at Vlad as the purpose for the deadly little bugs was made clear. He just wanted spider webs on his chandelier. Vlad was steadily gazing at the manager waiting for an answer to his question. Not really knowing what to do when Vlad was looking at him like that he just started spouting half sentences.

"Well, I'm not sure if there's…but I suppose we could try…I'm not certain it's possible-"

"So you're telling me that you had fifty eight of some of the most deadly spiders in the world brought to your house just so they could put spider webs on your chandelier?" I snapped out of my temporary brain freeze to question Vlad with disbelief. Vlad, eager to abandon whatever the manager had been saying, turned to me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. I hadn't really been paying attention to whatever he had been saying so I didn't realize I was cutting the manager off until he gave me a look of annoyance behind Vlad's back.

"Yes Daniel that's exactly why these particular arachnids are here. Is there a problem? " I decided it was okay to ignore the manager guy and continue talking to Vlad. I mean it wasn't like he was saying anything useful anyway. Plus it didn't look like Vlad had minded that I interrupted. I rolled my eyes at Vlad as I let him know exactly what the problem was with having all these deadly spiders here.

"You do realize that other _sane_ people will just go to the dollar store and buy a bag of _fake_ spider webs to put everywhere _themselves_. I mean this thing is going to be up in the air where nobody's going to be able to get a good look at it anyway. Sure authenticity is great and all, but common. This is over the line. It's just not worth it." I crossed my arms when I was finished and waited for Vlad's reply. He had to admit this was at least a little bit ridiculous. Vlad shifted his weight and just continued to smirk at me.

"So that is the problem is it? You're still uncomfortable about having incomprehensible amounts of money at your fingertips? Daniel this sort of frivolity is something you are going to have to come to expect. Believe me when I say that when this is finished, it will be something far more spectacular than any mere commoner decoration you are accustom to. There is a very large difference between this and that cheap cotton everyone else uses. It is this sort of detail, Daniel, that sets me above the crowd, and being set above the crowd is entirely about the details. You'll learn as much eventually." Vlad clapped his hand lightly on my shoulder as he turned again to look at the giant, crystal, spider infested chandelier, "Now if only I could find a way to get this sufficiently coated for tonight." Oblivious to the fact that the manager was about to open his mouth again; I decided I'd give my two cents. To me the answer to the problem was pretty obvious anyway.

"Why don't you just get some other little bugs in here?" Vlad turned to me again with a curious expression on his face. I caught a glance at the manager guy before Vlad started talking, and he didn't look too happy with the fact that I had stolen Vlad's attention, again.

"Why would we want more insects in here Daniel? They aren't going to do anything but be eaten up by the spiders." I nodded slowly; was Vlad seriously still not catching on? I thought it was pretty obvious. I guess it's what would get me motivated, I mean if I were a spider.

"Yeah, that's what they'd be there for." Vlad now didn't even open his mouth and just continued to stand there and wait for my explanation. I sighed a little bit and shifted on my feet; a slight blush coming to my face. "Well I mean if there were actually bugs in here for the spiders to catch maybe they would see more of a purpose to make their webs in the first place. I mean what's the point in making a web if there isn't anything to catch? I don't know, it made sense to me." Vlad looked at me very curiously. I couldn't tell if he was impressed or if he was stopping himself from laughing. I watched as Vlad turned to the manager and the other four people in the tent.

"Well would something along those lines be plausible?" I watched as Vlad started to go around the room and make eye contact with everyone. You could tell who Vlad was looking at because the person on the receiving end of Vlad's stare would choke up a little bit. Vlad got to the fourth person who had been in the tent before he got an answer. When Vlad moved his gaze as if he were going to the next person she stuttered to life.

"I-I don't see why not." Vlad smiled slightly as he brought his gaze back to the girl who had spoken.

He waved his hand in a little circle gesturing for her to continue. She quickly obeyed. "W-we usually inject hormones into the widow's food to get them to produce more silk, but as far as a short term solution I don't see why that wouldn't work. It sounds logical enough." Vlad grinned a little to himself as he stood a little taller, giving everyone in the area the impression he was about to give an order. That was a good thing, considering that's what he did next.

"Very well, one of you shall go fetch the appropriate insects that would be needed and the rest of you can continue to work on what is already here. Martin I believe we are done here and that a trip to check on the lanterns progress is due. That is, unless there's a problem?" Vlad turned to give Martin a look just as he was shooting me a glare. The manager's face quickly fell as he saw that Vlad had caught him glaring at me. He stuttered to life and was quick to try and redeem himself.

"N-no problem. I don't have a problem. Okay then we should be going now. Right this way." I don't know if it was because we were inside the tent this time, but Martin unsealed the door much faster than he had coming in. This time Vlad invited himself out first and I tailed close behind. I could still feel Martin glaring at my back, like it was my fault that Vlad had caught him glaring. Yeah right, okay I'm sorry I had interrupted the guy but it's his own fault for so obviously glaring at me because of it.

Vlad didn't wait for Martin to reseal the tent once he was on the other side and just started walking away. It wasn't hard to figure that if Vlad wasn't waiting I wouldn't be waiting either. I didn't exactly want to spend unnecessary time next to a person who obviously wasn't happy with me at the moment. I jogged a few steps to catch up with Vlad. We were headed to the stage at the back of the room behind the white tent we had just come out of.

Once we got behind the white tent and my view of the stage behind it was clear, it was very obvious what Vlad had meant by 'lanterns'. Set up on the stage was a pumpkin carving area. But the pumpkins being carved weren't exactly your average everyday pumpkins. The things were bigger than any pumpkin I had ever seen. I didn't even know it was possible for them to get that big. They must have stood at least two and a half feet tall. I wouldn't be surprised if those things had weighed over five hundred pounds. Giant piles of pumpkin guts sat around people who were diligently carving away on tiny stools in front of their respective pumpkins. The pumpkins themselves were slightly elevated off the ground too, on some wooden boxes. It was still kind of hard to hear over the air compressor, but as we got closer you could hear the slap of pumpkin guts being thrown to the blue tarp that covered the stage the carvers were working on. The whole thing looked like a very serious operation.

Vlad led me around to the back of the stage where there were some stairs so we could get up without having to climb awkwardly. We came through the heavy red curtain and onto the stage. Everyone who was working had in ear plugs and looked like they were all way too far gone in their own little worlds to notice we were there.  
While Vlad and I had been walking around the stage, Martin had decided to just hop up the more direct way. He walked through the staggering of carvers towards us. He had to shout slightly to be heard over the air compressor still running for the guys doing the windows.

"Some of them have been going at it for at least three hours now. They should be coming up here on a lunch break pretty quick. Do you want to take a quick look around and see what they've got so far?" I watched as Vlad gave a curt nod and waited for Martin to lead him around. Martin saw Vlad give him a look and he sprung into motion. Quickly he led us around the mounds of pumpkin guts. We started at the edge of the stage; working our way back to the curtain.

Right away it was obvious who had been working longer than everyone else. The first person we walked by was still working on clearing out their pumpkin. They had cut off the top and their entire arm, shoulder, and neck would disappear as they reached down to try and grab all of the guts that were inside. Then there were people who were done scooping out guts. The giant mounds of orange mush sat next to the people as they carved away. However the things these people were carving were not turning into jack-o-lanterns, they were turning into sculptures of horror. Even from just what they had gotten done, the twisted pain hate and terror filled faces that the carvers were starting on were evident. Yeah, it was pretty insane. I could never do anything like that. I was lucky if I could draw a good stick figure. These things looked amazing and they weren't even halfway done yet. They had to look pretty bad ass when they were lit.

I stayed out of the way as Vlad inspected the pumpkins and the Manager person rambled on about things I didn't really care about. I watched Vlad as he slipped again into his business persona while I trailed behind, falling into the background. I was kind of shocked when Vlad had included me in that last little conversation about the chandelier. Up until now I had just been watching. Just following Vlad around and noticing different things about how Vlad operated around other people.

Vlad glanced to me a couple of times as we moved on around the Ball room, making sure that I was still there and I guess to see how I was doing. We looked at the tables being decorated with antique candelabras and black lace table cloths. We inspected the chairs around the tables; constructed to look like something out of the Middle Ages, complete with heavy iron rivets and dark worn hard wood. I watched as Vlad instructed where people were to put the twelve foot suits of armor and creepy looking coffins that were delivered to the room. Vlad talked to the people on the ladders doing stuff to the windows, making sure that everything was running okay. The entire time I just watched and listened.

It was something to watch really. It wasn't so much that Vlad commanded attention, but that most of it was automatically given to him. The way he held himself ramrod straight with his shoulders back and his chin slightly up stated that he wouldn't stand for any nonsense. So people didn't give him any. Of course there were a lot of times that I was flat out disgusted with the way people would practically throw themselves at Vlad's feet; catering to his every whim. It was obvious by now that Vlad was pretty disgusted with that little aspect of things too. It was weird because I thought he would be ecstatic about people throwing themselves over him like that. I mean he was supposed to be the evil villain right? Evil villains were supposed to love that kind of stuff. I guess I was wrong when my assumption came to Vlad though.

It was weird to watch Vlad interact with people. I had never really seen him talk with anybody normal before. I had only ever seen him when he was in the middle of trying to do something less than admirable. Now though he was different. If Vlad reminded me of anything it was a military general. He didn't speak unnecessarily and when he did it was to give an order or reprimand someone. He walked around like he expected immediate obedience, so that is what people gave him.

Though he wasn't just an emotionless zombie. I could see him smirk whenever someone would sputter over themselves after he had addressed them. He was obviously amused when it was apparent someone was about to have a heart attack just because he had said their name. When someone made a mistake or his orders weren't followed correctly he would press his lips into a thin line and fix the wrong do-er with an icy glare. That was enough to make most people blush and start to shake before we moved on. For the most part Vlad kept himself isolated. Not like physically, he was always around other people. But he would always seem like he was on a different wavelength than everyone else. People would talk to him but he wouldn't really connect with anyone or act like he was paying anyone his full attention. He kept to himself and really the only time he would fully smirk or seem like he was in the same universe was when I was talking to him.

Eventually we got done looking at the Ball room and we made our way back into the carpeted hallway. It was only then that I realized how loud it had actually been in the Ballroom, enhanced ghost hearing aside. The silence seemed to ring a little bit and mine and Vlad's footsteps (okay well mostly mine) seemed to thud loudly in the empty halls we were walking in. Now that we were away from other people Vlad seemed to relax out of his stiff posture a little bit and he became more human. The way Vlad dropped his barriers when we were in between going from place to place in the mansion; he intentionally or unintentionally made himself easier to talk to. It was now when we were alone that I would voice my thoughts or ask questions before we arrived at our next destination and he put his walls back up. I kept up with Vlad's long strides as we walked down the hallway.

"So where are we going now? I can't think of anything else you need to check on. We covered the food and the ball room. What else are we going to do?" Vlad smiled slightly at my curiosity before he replied, not slowing in the slightest.

"We only have a few more things to oversee before we can retire and prepare ourselves for this evening, mainly the parking arrangements that will have to be made to accommodate everyone. We won't be doing that until after we have lunch however. You are still much too thin and I will not have your afternoon meal delayed any further than it already is." I glared lightly in response to the jab at my weight. Really I was getting better. The fact that Vlad was cramming me with carbs and protein at every available meal was probably a large part in that, but still.

We made our way to the dining room and sat down in our usual spots. Vlad at the head of the table and me directly to his right. Like she knew that we were coming, Tiffinany opened the door to Vlad's private kitchen with her hip; miraculously balancing at least ten different dishes on her arms. She set a very small toasted sandwich in front of Vlad with a glass of iced tea and then set the rest of what she was carrying in front of me.  
I sighed as I looked over the copious amounts of food that Vlad was expecting me to eat. Vlad only chuckled at my antics as he watched me look over the challenge set before me. It was a beef roast, mashed potatoes with a gravy lake, broccoli with some cheese sauce, a garden salad with all kinds of fixings on it, French onion soup with some crackers on the side, and a tall glass of milk next to a complementary glass of water. I sighed and unrolled the silverware from its napkin.

There was no way I was going to eat all of this. I never did. Argue as I might against this much food being made for me in the first place, Vlad would go ahead and have it all made anyway. I picked up my fork and started shoveling food mindlessly into my face. When I paused to get a gulp of milk down I caught Vlad grimacing at my table manners. I only smirked and continued to shovel away. The only reason I was getting away with eating so fast right now was because when Vlad had tried to reprimand me for it earlier, I had argued that if I was going to finish my huge meal in any sort of timely manner that I _had_ to eat quickly. Vlad daintily put down the half of his sandwich he was working on to talk.

"Daniel, do you even know _how _to conduct yourself at a dinner table. This sort of display will not be acceptable tonight." I rolled my eyes as I swallowed the mashed potatoes that were in my mouth, going back in for some more beef.

"Of course I do Vlad. I'm not that stupid. Gezze. You know it'd be easier for me to slow down and show you some manners if you didn't expect me to finish a full three course meal in the time it takes you to finish a half a sandwich. We've been over this." Vlad winced in disgust as I shoved a piece of meat that was probably too big into my mouth.

"Dan-" Vlad and I suddenly stopped as we were interrupted by a weird sounding chime. My first instinct was that the sound was a doorbell, but I wasn't sure. That's what it sort of sounded like anyway, maybe if the doorbell was underwater. It wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. And anyway, it couldn't be Vlad's doorbell.  
I'd asked why I hadn't heard any doorbells earlier, with all of these people showing up for the ball. Vlad had said that it was unreasonable to try and have a doorbell that would be loud enough to carry throughout the whole mansion, so he just had all of his staff carry around a little buzzer things the size of about a quarter in their pockets. When someone pressed the doorbell at the front door the buzzer would vibrate, like a cell phone, and they would know that someone was there. So the weird chimes that sounded like they were underwater couldn't be a doorbell. The sound just sounded so, I dunno, _ghostly_. It made me almost as anxious as if my parents had been showing me a ghost invention.

As the short tune reverberated throughout the dining room I looked to Vlad to explain what the heck was going on. He had sighed and nonchalantly gone back to eating his sandwich. Before he took a bite he caught me looking at him and explained what the noise was.

"It's nothing to worry about Daniel, merely a signal to the workers that their lunch is over. Now as I was saying before, I may let you get away with your barbaric displays under your flimsy excuses here, but proper etiquette is not a joking matter when we have company. As soon as I deem you well enough to go back to eating regular portioned meals you will be practicing proper table manners whenever anything so much as passes your lips." I allowed myself to relax with the explanation and Vlad's return to regular conversation. It was a good enough explanation for me at the moment. Though I would be asking questions later, like why did it sound so weird? I had never heard anything like that before what would you even use to make a noise like that? I decided to let myself fall back into conversation now that my anxiety over the ethereal noise had been explained away.

"Whatever Vlad. You know, it doesn't exactly help that the food is so amazing to begin with. I can hardly be held accountable for my food intake when you put something this awesome in front of me." Vlad smirked as he brought his sandwich down from his face again.

"Well I'd imagine that to someone who was accustom to eating food that was glowing and alive most meals, anything would taste heavenly in comparison. Now stop your chatter and eat, you've still got a long way to go before I'm letting you leave this table." I rolled my eyes and picked up my fork again to eat some more broccoli. I wasn't impartial to broccoli but it actually tasted pretty good with whatever this sauce stuff was on it. I wasn't kidding about the food being amazing. I swear the roast had actually melted in my mouth. I swallowed when I was done chewing and was about to go in for another forkful when I froze.

As I breathed in through my nose the air that went rushing down my wind pipe felt freezing. I had trained myself a long time ago to stop breathing at this point and prevent that infamous puff of cold air from coming visibly right back out of my mouth and giving me away. I waited five seconds before I exhaled, allowing time for the air to warm up in my lungs. In those five seconds I assessed my surroundings, going straight into battle mode. My pupils dilated and my blood pressure immediately rose in anticipation. I had a duty to take care of.

As I put my fork down I realized I was alone in the room except for Vlad. This was good news. I wouldn't have to come up with any hair brained excuses as for why I was leaving. A quick glance to make sure there weren't any security cameras and I got out of my chair, going ghost as I did so. I would let Vlad know what was going on. He would want to know whether there was a ghost in his house, I was sure. I was already wasting time though. I had to get a move on. I had innocent people to protect.

"Vlad there's a ghost, I'll be right back." At any other time I might have seen the brief look of panic and worry that flit over Vlad's face; I might have wondered why a ghost was showing up now, of all times, when one hadn't shown up before. However this wasn't any other time; right now I was in the zone, and by the time Vlad had registered what I was doing I was already through the floor, following my ghost sense like a dog on sent. It took maybe three seconds before I was led to Vlad's lab.

Once again I might have noticed at another time that I didn't exactly have a Fenton Thermos, or that I wasn't exactly allowed to be in Vlad's secret lab without permission, but I wasn't thinking. I was in battle mode, and right now the only thing that mattered was the ghost. My muscels rippled as I psyched myself up for battle. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. I had to go beat it and send it back to the Ghost Zone at any and all costs.

I came through the ceiling of Vlad's lab in time to see the doors to Vlad's Portal hiss shut. I eyed the air around the portal suspiciously. There wasn't a ghost I knew that would go through the trouble of shutting the portal once they had gotten through, which meant that it had to be a ghost I didn't know. I racked my brain for info on the ghosts Vlad had let me read up on in his Ghost Files; preparing myself for what might be coming.

I had been subconsciously aware of Vlad's signature slightly behind me on the way down to the lab. I had grown accustom to the presence of Vlad's signature over the weeks we spent training every day. Its specific feel no longer sent me into a panic whenever I felt it within my range it was familiar and I had spent enough time around it now that I wasn't put on guard because of it. So when I had felt Vlad change and follow me I hadn't been distracted, and I wasn't surprised to hear him when he started speaking behind me either.

"Daniel, are you sure there is someone here? None of my alarms are going off and unless someone has tampered with-"

_Clang-Clang-Clang! _ The sound of three metallic bangs rang through the lab and a voice screamed from behind the heavy metal doors of the portal. My head snapped to the noise. Images of Behemoth, or some equally huge and dangerous creature pounding ruthlessly on the other side of the doors formed in my head. I was pulled back from my speculations as a voice came shortly after the banging had stopped.

_"You dare lay a hand on me Plasmius! You shall pay for disgracing me in such a way! Forget about your contract. Do you hear me? I don't care if the twerp is coming. What grounds is that to shove me out the door? You open up this portal right now and face me or you can forget about me doing any favors for you ever again!" _I just gapped at the portal doors. I knew that accent and aristocratic tone anywhere. I let my muscles uncoil themselves a little bit as the threat level was taken down a few notches in my head. I hadn't fought her in over a year actually; she was nowhere near powerful enough to pose a threat to me anymore. The adrenalin that had been building in my system seemed to recede as I realized that I wasn't in any real danger. For one, she was on the other side of the doors at the moment; however that happened. And two she wasn't really a threat to me in the first place. The question now was what did she want with Vlad? What was this about a contract? I turned to Vlad.

"Desiree?"

The under-water-chimes sounded again before there were more loud clangs on the door. Once again I was taken off guard by the noise, but this time it definitely sounded like it was coming from within the room. Once again I was reminded of a doorbell, especially with the way something was restarting the short tune over and over in a vicious manner. Like a little kid who doesn't know to only hit the doorbell once. I listened to the chimes interspaced between the loud clanging Desiree was still making. And then it all made sense in a very weird way all at the same time. My initial suspicion had been right; only it the doorbell wasn't for the front door, or even any regular old door. Vlad had a doorbell on his Ghost Portal.

_"Plasmius!" _I watched as another Vlad appeared next to the controls for the portal and both Vlad's shouted at the same time towards the door.

"Be patient woman!" My head whipped back and forth between the Vlad by the portal and the Vlad that was hovering with me by the ceiling. When did Vlad make a duplicate? Why couldn't I feel its signature? Why would Vlad make an invisible duplicate with a suppressed ecto-signature to go answer to door when he could just as easily float down to answer it? While the Vlad by the portal was now typing furiously away, the one that was with me sighed and started to talk.

"Daniel, stay behind me." What the heck would Vlad want me behind him for? It's not like Desiree was dangerous or anything. What the heck was even going on? What was with the door bell, the duplicate, the contract?  
"Vlad, what the h-"

"Stay behind me and I'll explain latter. Just do as you're told!" Vlad's eyes flared as he lashed out with impatience. I flinched back slightly at the unexpected outburst; putting my hands up in a defensive gesture before getting behind Vlad. Obviously now was not the time to ask questions. Appeasing Vlad was more important than getting my answers at the moment. I could always ask latter. Plus I might find something out if I just watched. The portal doors hissed open again and the Vlad that had been typing by the controls dissolved and was reabsorbed by the original. A very angry Desiree was quick to come through the portal and spot us near the ceiling.

"I have half a mind to leave without helping you at all Plasmius! How dare you shove the door in my face?" Vlad crossed his arms and glided down to meet Desiree at the portal doors. His aura flared dangerously and energy rippled through the room causing a shiver to run down my spine. Desiree obviously felt the ripple of power as the shade of green on her face paled. When Vlad spoke it was in a low hiss that I was only able to pick up because of my ghost hearing.

"And I, my lady, have half a mind to show you the consequences of thinking that you were invited into my home as soon as I had opened the portal doors. I had intended to conduct this affair without Daniel's knowing, as not to cause him any unjust alarm. However you seemed to have remedied that quite nicely haven't you? You will comply with my requests or you will become acquainted with my ideas of a suitable retaliation for your insolence." What the heck? Vlad was doing something behind my back? I felt a swell of anger at the thought that Vlad was hiding something from me. I should have known he wouldn't stop being his secret manipulative little self just because I was living with him. What was I thinking; letting my guard down like I had? I was such an idiot! My fists clenched in betrayal and anger at what Vlad was obviously doing. Once again I found myself automatically trying to shift into 'hero mode' to fight the 'villain'.

I tried vigorously to put Vlad in that villain position again. I really did. Here he was doing something obviously evil, if he felt the need to hide it from me. I tried to see this from my old point of view. I really did. I tried to force myself into that old way of thinking so that I could take out whatever evil plot was obviously unfolding right before my eyes. I tried so hard to be mad at Vlad in the name of justice, like the superhero I was supposed to be. I needed to get into the maind set to fight the villain and save the innocent. But I couldn't. As hard as I tried to be mad because Vlad was doing something evil. I found myself more angry with the fact that Vlad had hidden something from me.

Whatever Vlad was planning I did not envy Desiree; being at the receiving end of the pupil-less red eyed glare that Vlad was undoubtedly giving her. I could tell by the way she suddenly shrunk back and shivered. It was so out of character, to see Desiree knowing how highly she thought of herself, cower under Vlad's harsh gaze. I cautiously got closer to the two so that I could hear what they were saying. Vlad might try have hid this from me before but he wasn't going to now. I paid rapt attention as Desiree cooed.

"Of course Plasmius, forgive me. You know my temper, I got out of hand. Now what was this wish you requested?" It was a very poor attempt to draw Vlad's anger away from her, but it looked like Vlad was going to allow it to work. So Vlad was going to make a wish? What kind of wish? Would he wish that I would go back to my own life? Was Vlad planning to get rid of me and that was why he didn't want me to know? Vlad couldn't get rid of me. He…He just couldn't! I was trying my hardest to be good. I really was. Where did I go wrong? Was Vlad going to wish everything back to normal? Wasn't that what I wanted? I didn't even know anymore! I watched Vlad nod curtly to Desiree as he turned to go pick up a stack of papers on the counter.

"Yes, you'd simply need to sign the-" Suddenly I all my questions couldn't wait anymore. I burst forward, stopping Vlad from giving Desiree the suspicious papers.

"What the heck are you doing? Why is Desiree here? What are you going to wish for? Why didn't you tell me about this? Are you going to get rid of me? What did I do wrong? Are you plotting for something? What the hell is going on!" I waved my arms wildly trying to convey just how panicked I was at finding that Vlad had decided to do… well something, right under my nose. Worry and anxiety started to bubble inside me at what Vlad was doing. Vlad just sighed tiredly as he turned to face me. The fact that Vlad wasn't freaking out seemed to help my nerves a little and keep them at a manageable level. Somehow, if Vlad wasn't freaking out, then I had less of a reason to freak out.

"You recall, asking about how I was going to get a room full of rich power hungry aristocrats to keep quiet about you being my heir?" I nodded and shifted slightly out of my tense pose. What the heck was Vlad on about? Vlad saw me lower my guard slightly and started moving again towards the papers on the counter. "You may also remember how I responded that I would have my 'ways' about keeping them quiet?" I nodded again as I watched Vlad pick up a stack of what looked like five or so papers, all neatly stapled together. He walked over to me and held them out stiffly for me to take, so I did. "These would be those 'ways' I was referring to." I just gave Vlad a confused look as I took the papers glancing at them quickly before looking back up to Vlad. He only raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to read. I just looked at Vlad a moment longer before looking down to the papers in my hands.

_I, Vladimir Plasmius (also known as Vladimir Masters but referred to from here on as Plasmius) wish that no human who finds themselves knowledgable of Daniel Phantom's (also known as, Daniel Fenton referred to from here on as Daniel) connection to myself financial or otherwise, would be able to communicate with another in any way shape or form the information pertaining to this topic. I, Desiree agree that this wish will comply with all of the conditions that follow._

_1) Plasmius will not be affected in any way by the restrictions of the wish so it remains that he may distribute information as he sees fit._

_2) Any information that Plasmius makes public* that falls under the category of being information addressed in this wish is no longer subject to the effects of the wish. (*Information is "made public" if and only if Plasmius specifically addresses a member of the media with the intent that the information being shared is to be made knowledgeable to the general public. That is to say people who have no connection or correspondence whatsoever with Plasmius.)_

_3) Information that Plasmius shares with another individual…_

I stopped reading after it was obvious that Vlad was just closing loopholes. I looked back up to Vlad and over to Desiree, who had now taken to waiting impatiently by the portal doors, twirling her hair around her index finger.

"So you're just going to wish this?" It was so simple. For Vlad it was almost too simple. What about getting rid of me? What about his evil plot? Vlad rolled his eyes before taking the papers back from my hands and continuing on his way to Desiree so that she could sign.

"Yes Daniel, you should know by now that the simplest plans are often the best ones. That means there is always less to go wrong. Hand me that pen would you, if your heroic impulses are satisfied?" I was hopelessly lost. This was it? That was all Vlad was going to do? It was so harmless, so benign. Energy and anxiety that had been coiling ruthlessly inside my chest started to unwind so quickly I felt the pressure of tears at the back of my eyes. I couldn't believe this was it. I _wouldn't_ believe this was it. There had to be something that Vlad couldn't explain away.

"What about the chimes? What about my ghost sense that got me down here in the first place? What about the duplicate at the door? How do you explain that stuff?" Vlad's shoulders seemed to drop marginally and he suddenly looked every one of his forty two years.

"The chimes are the doorbell to my ghost portal, as I assume you've already deducted. The sound is produced so that only Ghosts, or in our case half ghosts, can hear it. I accomplish this by submerging a set of rigged orchestral chimes into a pool of liquid ecto-plasma. The sound produced will only resonate to an audible level within other ectoplasmic substances as a result. Our altered DNA allows us to hear the noise, without alerting the rest of the staff that I have someone waiting at my portal doors.

You're ghost sense was triggered when Desiree decided that she could come uninvited into my home. As soon as she stepped into our dimension she was within your range.

And when I heard the doorbell initially I sent an undetectable duplicate to deal with the problem so that we might have avoided this whole debolical in the first place. Obviously that plan failed spectacularly. I didn't think it prudent that you be so caught off guard by more ghostly interaction as you inevitable were.

Now, the pen Daniel?" It was a moment before everything registered in my head and I got my limbs to cooperate. I took two steps to the counter to retrieve a fancy fountain pen that Vlad had obviously set there earlier for this event. Still in a daze, I plunked the pen in Vlad's outstretched hand. Vlad nodded in recognition before he turned to Desiree and presented the pen and paper for her to sign. She seemed to have gained back some of her confidence, because the way she took the things from Vlad was rather more haughty than necessary. I was only half paying attention as Desiree quickly looked through the papers signed them and made them disappear in a puff of green smoke with a bored _"so you have wished it so it shall be."_.

I didn't really know what to do with myself at the moment. Everything had just happened so fast, I didn't know what to think. Vlad was just making preparations for the ball. He wasn't scheming or plotting; he only kept things from me because of his paranoid delusion that I would overreact to Desiree. He had only be trying to protect me and do what was best for me? Vlad quickly dismissed Desiree before he was standing in front of me snapping me out of my half aware state.

"Daniel." I shook my head and blinked. I looked at Vlad, startled to see that he had even changed back to his human form without me knowing. He sighed heavily before he was addressing me once again. It was obvious I was still too out of it to say anything for myself.

"Daniel, I'm never going to hide anything of importance from you. The only reason that I tried to hide this was because I knew you would react this way. I think we can both safely assume that things would have continued just fine had events turned out as _I'd_ planned them. It is obvious to me that you still get overly anxious whenever ghosts are concerned. I wanted to avoid the hassle it would cause you if I had alerted you to one being here." Vlad gave me a concerned look and placed a hand on my shoulder before he turned and started to walk back towards the labs exit. When I didn't move to follow him he sighed once again. Without turning around he issued a command.

"Daniel, go relax in your room. I'll come to get you when it's time to get ready." I looked, now not as dazed, to Vlad as he ascended the stairs and out of sight. The simple command was something my brain could easily get wrapped around while I tried to process everything else. More without my knowing I floated through the ceiling towards me room to maybe take a short nap.


	37. Chapter 37 I Think I Can

AN/: In case you skipped over chapter 36. Go Back and Read that! I updated with two chapters. to kind of make up for my long absnce. I'm really sorry about that by the way. yeah. If you wnat explainations I put them in the authours note to chapter 36. Anyway. Don't get your hop[es up for anything spectacular in this chapter. I just don't want anyone ot be dissapointed when there isn't any epic battle. Once again it is vital that you go back and re-read chapter 35 to understand why. I really couldn't bring myself to make this too dramatic. It jsut didn't happen. Anyway, yeah. here is the chapter. I guess. I don't have anything else to say.

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**Running to the Enemies Arms**

Chapter 37:I Think I Can...

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, June 13, 2011, 11:10PM_

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**IMPORTANT:** _(again)_ don't skip over chapter 36. That is a new chapter that hasn't been posted before now. Also I changed chapter 35 if you skipped over chapter 36 and didn't get the memo. You need to read or re-read both before you read this. if you have, then please enjoy!

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**Danny's POV**

This has to be one of the most awkward and scary things I have ever been to in my entire life.

I don't think you really understand the significance of that statement. I had ghost hunters for parents the first sixteen years of my life. I've been in situations that would probably make normal people cry because they were so awkward. I have stared adults in the face as they've covered themselves in sewage proclaiming that it was a good defense against ghost diseases. I have fought against evil undead kings and faced alternate realities.

And this stupid ball is giving _me _the heebie-jeebies.

To make things even worse it looks like I am the only person here that is freaked out by any of this. Everyone else is happily mingling around, dancing to some music that the orchestra on stage is playing; while I sit here, in the darkest corner I could find, seriously pleading with Clockwork to fast forward me through all of this. Because I can handle the certifiably insane, I can handle the undead; rich people at Halloween parties however are not on my resume.

I had to focus on staying tangible and visible once again as another person, this time a woman dressed as Cruela Devil from 101 Dalmatians, came uncomfortably close to my hiding spot. I shivered and tightened the trench coat I was wearing around myself as the woman passed. That had been too close. I settled again into my corner as I regained myself. Though the woman had come close she still hadn't discovered me and I was planning on keeping it that way for as long as I could manage.

With a sigh, I went to scratch my head when I felt a nagging itch, only to stop myself and _carefully_ with one finger itch the spot on my scalp that was giving me grief. I wasn't allowed the liberty of scratching my head however I wished because my hair had been slicked back as a part of my costume.

I had to admit the costume wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The main feature was obviously the mask that covered half of my face. I was pretty much blind out of my left eye because instead of their being a regular hole for me to see through it had been covered in something like the lense of a pair of sunglasses so that it would look black. With as dark as the ball room already was, it was pretty much impossible to see through, even with ghost-night-vision. The mask was somehow glued to my face like a Band-Aid because when a mask only covers half of your face it would be weird to hold it on with string. Plus the way the mask just sort of stuck there made it look a little creepier. It had itched at first, kind of like after you just get your face painted, but the itch had gone away after a while.

My hair had been slicked straight back, like I said. There was so much gel in it that is shined like I had just come out of the shower. I was not looking forward to the task of washing the goop out of my hair later. The rest of the costume was kind of simple. I was wearing a crisp white oxford with a tuxedo vest over top. The vest was blood red satin with velvet designs on it. I was wearing some regular black dress pants and instead of some normal dress shoes I was wearing these shiny black leather boots. Far from being cowboy boots they were tight against my leg so that I could wear them underneath my dress pants. If the boots reminded me of anything it was of something pirates might wear. I had also been given a silver pocket watch to put in the chest pocket of my tuxedo vest. The chain attached draped from my chest pocket and was connected to the waist of my pants. I was also wearing these white satin gloves that buttoned around the wrist. Then over the top of the whole thing I had been given a trench coat. It wasn't an overlarge trench coat or anything; it was a very snug fit around my torso, when I buttoned it up. The shoulders were crisp and the cuffs firmly pressed. It was very well-to-do as far as trench coats went. Though I was suspicious of the way that the bottom of it would billow menacingly like a cape when I walked. I was pretty sure that regular trench coats didn't do that. Either way I wasn't letting it stop me from enjoying it.

Not that I could enjoy it at the moment, as I was busy avoiding scores of rich, old people. God I really hate Halloween. At first I had been staying out of the way just to uphold my agreement with Vlad. You know, because of my 'scary problem' I had to stay out of sight so he could do his thing. He had after all, worn the vampire costume. I had to say he was pulling the whole thing off exactly like I knew he would. But that's not important right now. What is important is that I am continuing to stay hidden because I am definitely not going out into that party unless I absolutely have to.

So like I said, at first I had just been hidden to keep out of sight for Vlad, then people actually started to show up and I got to actually see how this Ball was going to work. And after seeing what the ball was actually like, there is no way I am going out there. If I thought dealing with everyone at school was bad, this was definitely worse. At school everyone were stuck up snobs bidding against each other for power, sure; but they at least _tried _to be subtle about it. That was definitely not the case here. Here everyone very obviously had some sort of ulterior motive of some kind. All the men talked circles around each other, trying to confuse important information out of people, while all the women went around flirting shamelessly to get whatever they wanted. Really it was pathetic. What made it even worse was the fact that everyone thought so highly of themselves that nobody suspected anything of what was being done to them right under their noses. Or at least they thought that they themselves were safe while everyone else was being screwed over.

Despite how stupid these people were though I had absolutely no doubt that if I went out there, that I would definitely come under some sort of suspicion. I mean, I could admit to myself that I could do a pretty good job of acting like a rich jackass at school, but I was in no way confidant that I could pull off the act here. There is a very large difference between acting like a rich jackass at school and acting like a rich jackass at a Ball. There were just so many little mannerisms that I didn't have or know to do yet. Like why does everyone swish their drinks around at least three times before they take a sip? How come nobody ever takes a snack from a tray with less than five left on it? And this is all completely disregarding the fact that if anyone asked me to dance I was completely and utterly screwed.

So yeah, I'll be staying in my corner thanks. I am not risking making a fool of myself, or exposing my real identity in any way. The safest bet for me, was to stay out of the whole thing all together. I don't really care anymore if everyone at school wonders where I am. I'll come up with an excuse later. I am not going out there. I am just going to stay here in the darkest corner I could find and wait this whole thing out.

How much longer did I have to stay here anyway? I had to have at least been here for an hour already…

"Care for some company?" I drew blood from inside my cheek when I bit down to keep from screaming out in surprise. Coming quickly out of my thoughts I found a girl about my age standing next to me. She had spoken in no more than a whisper. Glancing quickly from her to the crowd passing obliviously in front of us I tried to come up with some sort of excuse for being hauled up in a corner like some sort of hermit. Oh crap oh crap this is exactly what I did _not_ want to happen. I'm the son of _Vlad Masters_. I can't be seen like this.

"I-I was just-"

"Oh please, you don't think you're the only one who hates these things? It's obvious you're hiding. I was just wondering if you would share your spot. You've got the best one staked out you know, and all of the other hiding places are full." The panic that had been coiling in my chest lessened as the girl continued to talk. Thank god; it was just a false alarm. I was safe, at least until I could tell her to go away. "I'll go find another hiding place if you're really intent on being alone, but I would really appreciate it if you would let me stay. I don't want to chance my mother seeing me again. I just got out from under her nose." A look of pure dread settled onto her face as she talked about going back out into the party. At that point the hero side in me decided that sharing my spot wouldn't be so bad, as long as it was only with _one_ person. It was weird though the way she explained it, there were people hiding all over the Ball room. That would mean that there were other people who didn't want to be here, just like me. I could use this information in some way, I was sure of it. I managed to get out a reply without stuttering like an idiot this time.

"Sure I don't mind. Here stand behind me. Your costume is really bright and we won't be noticed as easily if you're behind me." She nodded in appreciation before quietly shuffling so that she could better hide herself behind the dark colors of my costume. She was dressed as a Bride, though I think based on the dark circles under her eyes she was supposed to be a dead one. Her face was hidden behind a soft white veil so I couldn't tell who she was. Though I could have sworn there was something familiar about her. I shook off the weird feeling and went back to staring at the crowd and making sure that no one saw us. Despite myself I calmed down, now having someone else to worry about. I easily settled into my more familiar role of protector, now that I had a damsel and distress to take care of. There was a small cough behind me, causing me to turn abruptly to face the girl once again.

"My name is Emma Conant by the way. My dad is the CEO of Campbell's." As soon as I heard the word Cambell's I figured out where I had seen this girl before. This was that shy girl that I had met when I invited Bill to lunch. I couldn't resist a little smirk as I re-introduced myself.

"Dan Masters, nice to see you again Emma. Sorry I didn't recognize you. Though to my own credit it seems like you could use a can of good old chicken noodle, you look like the walking dead!" I kept my voice low and heavy with sarcasm. I watched in satisfaction as Emma's hand shot up to cover her face as she held in a tiny snort of laughter.

"You don't look half bad yourself. Way to really emulate your character, hiding in the shadows and what not." I held down a chuckle in favor of a tight controlled smile.

"That's good, I'm going to have to use that when V-Dad asks me where I was this whole time." Emma now shot me her own smirk of pride before shaking her head in laughter. I barely caught myself in time before I said Vlad's first name. I internally winced at the small slip, but relaxed when it didn't look like Emma noticed. We both turned back to observing the crowd in our own thoughts. I worked on getting myself into the right mindset so I wouldn't be caught off guard again. I had to stay consistent after all. I couldn't go from calling Vlad 'Dad' the one day and 'Vlad' the next.

Despite the fact that Emma had caught me in a corner it wouldn't be to my advantage to let her see me nervous or anything. I was going to have to make sure that I was acting every bit the 'Masters Heir' that she would expect me to be. I repeated a mantra in my head, trying to trick myself into my role of son-of-a-trillionare-super-villian. _ I am a Masters, I must act like I use money for toilet paper, I am a Masters ,I must talk like I'm a walking dictionary, I am a Masters…_

"What are you doing hiding away in the first place? I didn't take you for the type." I came out of my musing to turn back to Emma; reminding myself to pull back my shoulders this time.

"I don't particularly care to draw attention to myself. And seeing as I am the son of Vlad Masters I will at some point be getting a lot of it. I just want to hold off on that moment for a little while longer." I caught Emma frowning for a second at my response. Her frown caused my eyebrows to furrow together a little in confusion. Why was she frowning like that? She didn't suspect anything did she? I mean, I had practically told her the truth, and I even remembered to pull my shoulders back this time.

"Dan I have to say that if you don't want attention you let the wrong guy adopt you." I sighed a little in relief when it became clear what had caused Emma to frown. I nodded a little bit as I responded.

"Yeah, he gets a lot of attention, but I still think I picked the right guy for the job." I stopped explaining myself there, not wanting to give out any personal information. Emma just nodded and accepted what information I gave her, realizing she was treading on thin ice with the subject. I turned around again, meaning to scan the crowd and cut off the sensitive conversation. Instead when I turned I found Marilyn Monroe coming towards me and my hiding place with a scornful look on her face.

"Emma Marie Conant what have I told you about standing in dark dusty corners at this sort of thing. I knew I should have gone with you to 'go to the ladies room'. You get back out here this instant and stop defiling your father's name." As she got closer to us she kept her scolding to a fiery whisper, having only eyes for Emma. There was a fleeting moment there, where I thought that I might be able to slip into the shadows and escape. That never came to pass though because when she was not three feet from us Emma's mom seemed to realize that Emma wasn't alone in the corner. Instantly her demeanor changed. She dropped the fiery whisper she had been using and a pleasant and very fake smile appeared on her face. "Oh please excuse me I didn't realize you were here. I'm sorry about my daughter she inevitably dragged you in here for company. Unless I was interrupting something?" She raised her eyebrows and looked to Emma with an almost hopeful look in her eyes. Emma in contrast seemed horrified.

"Mom! We were just talking!" The woman let out a sigh of disappointment. I had to remind myself to stay in check as I listened to the woman talk to Emma. Weren't parents supposed to, you know, _not_ encourage thatkind of thing?

"Yes, heaven forbid you do anything but _talk_ with a boy. You are getting older Emma you really don't have much time left before all the good ones are gone. Now come out of the corner and introduce me to your friend; it's only polite." With a huff Emma came out of the shadow looking back to me with an apologetic look; reluctantly urging me to follow. The woman raked her eyes over me like I was vegetable at the super market that she wasn't sure was ripe enough. The look made me repress a shiver. It took every fiber of determination in my body not to just go invisible and intangible right there. Crap crap crap CRAP! I had really been found out now. I was doomed.

Slowly and deliberately I came out of my sanctuary. There was no way I was going to be able to fool this woman into believing that I was raised with money. The way she was looking at me; nothing was going to get past her. What's she going to say when she realizes something is 'off' about me? She'll probably let everyone know about how poor I really am and I won't ever be able to live up to Vlad's name like he wants me to. Oh god…

Okay, I couldn't afford to panic like this. Just, snap out of it Fent-NO! Masters! I have to be a Masters. Okay I could do this. It would be just like school, only everybody was dressed funny and is older. I could do this. As I walked forward I repeated my mantra frantically in my head.

_I am a Masters. I must walk like I own the world. I am a Masters. I must be able to hold a conversation with Shakespeare. I am a Masters…_

Subtly I rolled my shoulders back and tilted my chin up. I put a signature 'Vlad' grin on my face and shoved all of my worry to the back of my head. _I AM a Masters._ I looked to Emma indifferently, like I was infinitely more important than anyone within a hundred mile radius, as she started making introductions.

"Mom this is Daniel Masters," the woman's eyes lit up with glee as she realized just who I was. Immediately a smile radiated off of her face. She cut off the rest of her daughter's introduction. The calculating look in her eye was gone, and it was replaced by a look of greed and longing. She grabbed me by the shoulders and positioned me so that she could 'properly examine' me.

"Well if it isn't the infamous Masters heir! Come now let me get a good look at you. Emma why didn't you say that you had made friends with this young man?" I was desperate for a place to look that wouldn't be weird or offensive as the woman obviously raked her hungry gaze over me again.

I had to seriously restrain myself from gulping as I realized what was happening. Oh, this woman believed I was Vlad's son alright. I was sure there was no doubt in her mind. Instead of stopping to make sure that I was indeed who I said I was, like everyone at school had on my first day, she took my word for it. She had heard my name and everything else about me had ceased to matter; because I was a Masters and she wanted to make sure to get in my good graces. She didn't care that I might have been some suburban teen in disguise, she didn't care if I was dumb as a rock; all that mattered was that she could use me to get close to Vlad and his money. I probably could have picked my nose right there and she wouldn't have cared as long as I told her that I would be friends with her daughter. Somehow, the fact didn't make me feel any better. Actually it probably made me feel worse. I had been prepared to prove myself not keep my cool while people tried to manipulate me. Suddenly the woman that had passed by my hiding spot earlier in the Cruella Devil costume butted into the conversation.

"Masters' heir did you say Debbie? This isn't another one of your false little rumors is it?" Mrs. Conant put a frown of disapproval on her face, clearly unhappy with what Cruella Devil had just accused her of. It didn't seem to matter though, how many daggers Mrs. Conant threw with her eyes, because this new woman was now looking over me in the same way that Emma's mom had, like a vegetable in a supermarket. I froze up a little bit at being examined again. This woman clearly wasn't going to take Mrs. Conant's word on anything, so I was going to have to play my part. Okay this I could handle. Well this is what I had expected, anyway. _I am a Masters. I am a Masters. I am a Masters…_ Remembering myself I carefully, very carefully, offered my hand and my name to this new woman.

"I'm afraid that Mrs. Conant would be telling the truth. Daniel Masters, a pleasure to be of your acquaintance." There I had done it! I sounded almost as stuck up as Vlad. This woman's eyes, just like Mrs. Conant's had changed from speculating to greedy. I squirmed on the inside as I realized that now this woman too, believed I was Vlad's son and would do almost anything to get me in her clutches. She abruptly gave me her hand which I shook lightly, like it might break under too much pressure.

"Quite the gentleman; you can call me Mrs. Buckley, young man. You know I have a very pretty daughter about your age. I'm sure you would get along famously." Was this woman trying to set me up with her daughter? But I hadn't even known her for more than five seconds. The only reason she would want me to meet her daughter would be because of my last name! Did she seriously think that I was going to fall for this? People were really stupid if they thought they could play me into their pockets that easily. I didn't know anything about this person and I wasn't about to go off and flirt with their daughter. I glanced quickly to Emma in uncertainty before I opened my mouth to respond to Mrs. Buckley in a way that would hopefully sound very posh and not offend her. Before I could make any sort of noise though, another woman dressed as Princess Leia decided that they wanted in on the conversation.

"A little birdie told me that the Masters' heir was keeping your company Debbie is it true? I'm Mrs. Parker by the way." This woman didn't offer her hand to me. She just slipped in her name like it wasn't important and assimilated herself into the circle. She too was giving me the vegetable look, only as she was she would sneak appraising glances at the other two women, like she was sizing up the competition. This woman obviously was hesitant to believe that I was Vlad's son also, but she wasn't taking any chances. Honestly at this point I didn't really feel like letting this person know that I was Vlad's son. It was clear, at least now, that the only reason these women were here was because they wanted to use me to get close to Vlad and his money. I was already squirming, not knowing what to do, under two womens' gazes; I didn't really feel the need to add to that number.

Even if I didn't want to, I didn't really get a chance to offer my own name because now a woman dressed as Betty Boop came into the circle.

"Of course he's the Masters' Heir do you think Felicia Buckley would be offering her daughters time to anyone less? I'm young man I'm afraid I didn't catch your first name?" Mrs. Wiseman offered her hand now and before anyone else could interrupt I took it and introduced myself. I had no clue what to do with myself when people just stood there and looked at me. I saw the opportunity to return to the familiarity of a handshake and I was going to take it.

"That would be Daniel, thank you for asking. A pleasure to meet you ." I hadn't finished my sentence before another woman butted into the circle; probably a little more violently than was necessary. She was dressed in a really big dress that looked like it would have belonged better in colonial times.

"Daniel what a fine name, very traditional. I'm Mrs. Robinson, It's a delight to finally meet you. My daughter Bethany has been going on about you for weeks now. Don't worry I've heard only the best." I didn't even have time to think about replying before another woman this one dressed as a Queen of some kind, butted into the circle.

"The Masters' Heir? Your name's Daniel correct? My daughter has told me all about you. Quite the gentleman this one is. He helped my Venessa carry her books in the hall when he saw she had a broken leg, isn't that just adorable?" There was a temporary lull in the onslaught of conversation as all of the women surrounding me cooed and awed. Durring that time two more women made their way to the circle. One was dressed in a red dress and devils horns and the other was dressed as Cinderella.

Where the heck were all of these people coming from? I had to figure out a way to get these people to stop saying my name out loud. There are obviously too many people nearby who were eavesdropping and came over to investigate when they heard my name mentioned. As soon as there was an opening the woman dressed as the devil introduced herself.

"Very pleased to meet you Daniel, you can call me Mrs. Johnson. I have a daughter that's heard rumors about you and I must say that she's very interested to meet you." She didn't offer her hand for a handshake, but really that wasn't a problem because as soon as Mrs. Johnson finished her sentence the woman dressed as Cinderella cut in.

"Surely you'd like to meet my daughters Daniel? I just had them with me before they went to freshen up. Lovely girls they are, _twins_ in fact." I just stood there in sort of mortified fascination, desperately fighting the urge to gape openly, as a classic Disney character told me about her twin daughters in a very suggestive manner. Once again, though I didn't get time to respond or even dwell on the fact, another woman was shoving her way into the circle. Morticia from The Adams Family was pushing her way into the group. She however, had come prepared and had her actual daughter with her dressed as Cleopatra.

"Daniel Masters, I heard you were over here I would like you to meet my daughter, Delilah Lucas." The woman dressed as Dorothy practically shoved her daughter in my face. I had to stop this. I couldn't handle any more people coming over and trying to meet and or manipulate me. Everyone was looking at me like I was some sort of valuble object that they were planning to steal and sell on the black market. The staring was making me jumpy and anxious. I could tell something was not right. I gave the girl a sympathetic look as I shook her hand lightly. It was obvious she wanted to be there as much as I did. She blushed slightly as I introduced myself in the most dignified way I could manage in the current situation.

"Daniel Masters, it's good to meet you Delilah." That was as far as I got however before a small slender hand deliberately rested on my shoulder. I honestly think it was an act of a higher power that kept me from whipping around and punching who had laid their hand on me in the face. The way they were grabbing me was sending off alarms in my brain. Goosebumbs raised on my arms and neck. I tried to discreetly shrug off the hand on my shoulder but it wasn't working. Something was definitely not right. When who ever had grabbed me started to speak behind me I recognized the voice and realized it was Mrs. Conant from earlier, Emma's mom. Not surprisingly, the fact did not make me feel better.

"Julia really you ought not to be so brash introducing your daughter to boys like that, Daniel was already having a pleasant conversation with my Emma before you all interrupted them." There was a scoff off to my right as the woman, I couldn't remember her name, the Betty Boop person now reached out to grab my arm. Her fingers were long and cold and somehow felt like a trap around my right wrist. Internally I could feel my pulse speed up just a little bit. I had to reel in my instincts to blast away my captor. I was using every ounce of my self control in not freaking out.

"Debbie he hasn't said anything about having a girlfriend. Just because he was talking with your daughter doesn't mean anything. And besides just because you've already ordered doesn't mean you can't still look at the menu hm?" the Betty Boop woman wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively. My eyes got wide. What the heck was I supposed to say to that? Before I got the chance to answer there was another hand sneaking around my other wrist. This time it was the woman who was dressed as Cruella Devil. Her hand wasn't cold but her nails dug into my skin like spikes. I was eerily reminded of a bear trap Skulker had caught me in once. The back of my neck started to get hot as I wondered why on earth everyone was suddenly seeing the need to grab onto me. Oh shit this was not good. How the hell am I supposed to make sure that I act like the heir of a trillionare if I'm on the verge of punching people on reflex?

"Angela why would you say such a thing to the boy! He's obviously uncomfortable. Come with me Daniel, my daughter is much more suited to cultured conversation. Not like some people." I felt the hand that was grabbing my right arm tighten in anger as the Betty Boop woman retaliated.

"Sara!" there was a tug on my left arm as Cruela Devil tried again to pull me away.

"I'm only stating the facts. Come now Daniel you don't deserve to be around this riff-raff." Both the hand on my right wrist and the hand on my shoulder dug into my skin.

"Excuse me!"

"Why I never…" Both the women who had a hold on me tightened their fingers as they expressed their outrage.

"Daniel you must come with me you shouldn't stand being treated like this." Vaugly I registered another hand grabbing onto my shoulder as another woman tried to pull me away.

"No Daniel you really ought to come meet my daughter, she's very pretty you know. Just the sort of girl I know you'll like."

"Come with me Daniel-"

"My Daughter-"

"Not like this sort-"

"Conversation with manners-"

Hands were finding places to grab onto all over me as I was pulled in all different directions. I felt incredibly violated as my personal space was completely disregarded and women who hadn't even been in the conversation before grabbed fistfuls of my clothes. I had no idea what to do and was tiring desperately to hold onto any sort of dignity I had left while suppressing the overwhelming urge to go ghost and hightail it out of this demission all together. I could feel sharp nails dig into my skin as fingers tightened around my arms and shoulders. What the crap was I supposed to do? I had been worried about talking all fancy and standing up straight, not being a human rope in a game of tug-o-war! I could feel myself start to sweat in panic. My mind was going a million miles an hour. How was I supposed to get out of this without using my ghost powers and retaining some sort of dignity? All the while the situation around me escalated as women started insulting each other and ruffly pushing each other out of the way to get a hand on me. My panic increased as I realized that my eyes were starting to glow with anxiety that was building inside me .Crap crap crap CRAP! Women started shouting and clawing outright at my arms, even my face.

"Good evening Ladies." Like a signal the familiar smooth baritone that spoke behind me halted all of the fighting. Almost like they had rehearsed it all of the women looked, at the same time, up at the person standing behind me. As soon as the identity of the voice was confirmed every hand that had a hold on me let go and everyone stepped away, leaving me in the middle of a now vacant three foot circle. I had a very hard time not breaking into grateful hysterics at that moment. Vlad took a step forward, now that there was space, to stand beside me.

Remember when I said he was pulling off the Vampire costume? Yeah he was definitely doing that now. Despite the fact that everyone else who has ever tried to talk with fangs in their mouth ends up talking with a really stupid lisp, Vlad's voice was still as clear and evil as ever. And of course because Vlad really _did_ have fangs most of the time he had completely perfected scowling, smiling, smirking or whatever other facial expression so that it looked creepy as hell; then add to that the fact that Vlad can look really scary without any assistance. In the dark room the high collar of the inky black cape Vlad was wearing cast foreboding shadows on his face which added to the fact that he towered over almost everyone. Really if you didn't know any better you might think Vlad was actually a vampire and was about ready to go on a murderous rampage. Yes I was very happy that Vlad had showed up and that he was on my side. Casually he rested his hand on my opposite shoulder; his arm draping over me protectively.

"I see you have all had the pleasure of meeting my son, Daniel. Am I correct?" With the declaration from Vlad himself that I was indeed his son, the womens' eyes flared with hunger again. I pressed myself into Vlad's side silently pleading with him to stop them and get me the hell out of there! He didn't look at me but the way his arm tightened protectively around me let me know that he got the message. I could feel Vlad glare and send out a small pulse of energy when he spoke. The women who surrounded us shivered, aware on some level that the power they had just felt had come from Vlad and that he was not happy with them.

"Well we would love to stay and chat but I do believe that Daniel and I are needed elsewhere. Have a good night ladies." Vlad didn't wait for a response before he tightened his arm around me again to steer me away from the pack of rabid women. They quickly disappeared behind the crowd as Vlad led me forward and around groups of people who were laughing politely and making small talk. I finally calmed down enough that I wasn't subconsciously trying to use Vlad as a shield anymore. Relief flooded through my limbs as Vlad led me away. I leaned a little towards Vlad as we were walking and spoke just above a whisper, conscious of all the people that could overhear nearby.

"Thanks Dad." Vlad inhaled sharply and hesitated just a fraction in taking his next step. His arm, which he hadn't taken off of my shoulder, tightened around me possessively. Meanwhile my stomach was doing flip-flops and this constricting warm feeling made its home in my chest. Despite the reaction I knew the D-word would cause my stomach and chest to have, I had to use it. I mean with all these people around you never knew who was listening. I couldn't afford to make mistakes. So I had to call Vlad that, you know, for appearances.

"Anything for my son." The tight feeling in my chest gave a little squeeze and it was making it seriously hard to breathe properly. Luckily I didn't have to respond though as Vlad continued talking. "I apologize for not arriving sooner. As it was my hands were tied and I couldn't get away. I'm not usually the one sprinting off to do the rescuing you know." The tightness in my chest seemed to ease with the familiar jab at my 'hero complex'. I let out a breath and spoke in low tones as Vlad leisurely led me around groups of people. His arm never fell from my shoulder though it did loosen significantly.

"I-It's fine. I'm just glad you came when you did. I doubt I seriously could have kept myself together for much longer. And yes, pun intended." Vlad looked down to me with his eyebrow raised in amusement. The look caused me to smirk back at him. I waited for Vlad to respond with his own witty comment but he never did. He just went back to guiding me around groups of people. Okay well really people more moved out of the way subconsciously in fear as they noticed Vlad was coming.

I frowned as I realized that I was officially violating our deal by being this close to Vlad; even if my presence didn't seem to effect Vlad's reign of terror much. A deal was still a deal; and I didn't exactly want to stay out in plain sight much longer. I was fine when Vlad was here and he could keep everyone away, but as soon as he left I did not want to be anywhere that would leave me vulnerable. I looked up to Vlad again to let him know that I would be leaving.

"Thanks for getting me out of that whole thing… Dad… I really appreciate it. But I'm good now so I'll just find a new dark corner and see you at the end of the party I guess." I made to peel myself away from Vlad's side and take my place in the shadows, but was stopped when Vlad's arm tightened around me.

"Oh Daniel you didn't seriously believe that hiding was a viable option now that you've been discovered did you? Oh no I'm afraid that you won't be able to go back into hiding. Everyone now knows you're here so you will be expected to keep yourself visible at all times." I stiffened at the declaration Vlad had just made.

"You can't be serious. What the heck am I supposed to do? I'm not going to just stand around and wait to get mobbed again, and I can't stay by your side because we had a deal. I can't do this Vlad I don't know how to be all rich like you do. What if someone finds me out!" Vlad looked at me with a frown on his face.

"Daniel, I'm not going to throw you to the dogs to uphold some ridiculous 'deal' we might have previously arranged. You are more than welcome to stay by my side if you wish. Besides it seems as if you are not negating the effects of my efforts as much as you claimed." I was taken aback for a minute as Vlad offered me refuge at his side for the rest of the night. I honestly hadn't expected him to withdrawal his word on this. There was a very large part of me that wanted to take Vlad up on his offer. Though there was the smaller part of me that didn't. I held up my word as one of my most important qualities. Breaking the deal I had with Vlad because I was scared of facing everyone on my own just seemed like a really crappy reason to go back on my word. Silently I went about evaluating my options. Vlad was doing a good job of moving around so that we didn't get snagged up into any conversations unless we wanted to be in one. Unfortunately that meant that we weren't near any of the shadows that would allow me to go back into hiding. Though it's not like I could anyway; Vlad was right. Everybody was looking at Vlad and me as we would slowly walk past them. Their gazes would linger on me for just a smidgen too long. I couldn't really go back into hiding now because people would wonder where I went.

I caught a few of the gazes of my classmates as we walked around. They would raise their eyebrows a little, supposedly at the arm Vlad was keeping around my shoulder, before they gave me an anknowledging smile.

Based on the way that my peers were looking at me and the way Vlad was practically shielding me with his body from the party, it wouldn't be a good idea to stay in Vlad's company like this for too much longer. Now that Vlad had actually gotten me out of the mess I was in before, his gestures of 'protection' probably looked awkward and unnecessary. I was going to start losing face if I continued to walk around like I needed Vlad to protect me from everyone. No I really couldn't stay with Vlad too much longer, much to my dismay. My word and my reputation both made sure of that.

"Vlad I can't follow you like a lost puppy for the rest of the party. I'm not going to go back on my word for one thing; and people are starting to look at me funny." Vlad let out a heavy sigh and his grip on my shoulder loosened ever so slightly.

"Very well Daniel, As it I already told you it impossible for you to go and hide yourself in a corner once more, I do believe it is time for you to quite literally, face the music. You wouldn't happen to know how to waltz would you?" My eyes widened. Vlad was not seriously suggesting that I go _dance_ with someone.

"No Vlad I don't know how to dance! You can't be serious." Vlad wasn't paying attention to me though. He only bowed his head slightly and spoke not to me, but to a woman and her daughter who had appeared in front of us.

"Good evening Martha, Tara." I blushed furiously as I realized that these women had heard me tell Vlad that I couldn't dance. Oh shit, how was I going to get out of this one? This was not good. Okay, I just have to calm down. I tried to subtly pull my shoulders back and bring my feet together like Vlad was beside me. My actions only made Vlad smirk amusedly down at me. I blushed a deeper red despite myself as Vlad disregarded the people in front of us and decided to acknowledge my discomfort instead. Seemingly ignoring Vlad the women in front of us introduced themselves. The older woman, who was dressed as someone from ancient Greece, spoke for the both of them.

"Good evening Vladimir, Daniel" Her and her daughter who was dressed in a very tight fitting Tinkerbelle costume both curtsied after they introduced themselves. Vlad nodded in acknowledgment.

"Would the both of you humor two humble men for a dance?" The women politely giggled before the older woman once again took the lead and held out her hand.

"It would be our pleasure." Vlad bowed slightly as he accepted the older woman's hand and led her away into the crowd. Very suddenly I was left all alone. Blood rushed to my face as I realized Vlad had set me up without an escape. I tried, so hard, not to stutter as I faced my doom.

"S-so, would you like to dance?" I had to stop my hand from pulling at the collar of my shirt as the girl in front of me giggled.

"Sure, what could it hurt?" _your toes and probably your dignity, _I silently thought as she held out her hand for me to take. I copied Vlad's actions when I took her outstretched hand, bowing slightly but not breaking eye contact. Grateful for the gloves that covered my now sweaty palms I led the girl I was supposed to somehow dance with towards the dance floor.

We finally broke through the wall of people that surrounded the dance floor and I immediately froze. The girl I was with looked at me curiously. I had kept my hand in hers as she was tugged back to my side when she tried to continue to move forward. I watched as people swirled around in time to the music, sometimes sporadically switching partners. What the hell was I thinking? What the hell was _Vlad_ thinking! I couldn't dance! There was no way I was going out there and making a complete fool out of myself. It was better that I just fess up now and face the humiliation from one person instead of falling flat on my face in front of twenty. Color drained from my face as I turned to the girl in the Tinkerbelle costume beside me. I swallowed thickly as I started to excuse myself.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"Daniel really, you didn't think I would let you fend for yourself now did you? It's me, now lead me out onto the floor like a gentleman before you start to attract attention." I stared at the girl trying to comprehend what she had just said. What did she mean 'It's me'? Why did she call me Daniel? Only Vlad calls me… Oh hell no.

"Daniel." The girl gave a sharp tug on my wrist and I snapped out of my shocked state

"Vlad?" She only gave me a stern look that was so 'Vlad' I didn't need any other conformation. I was very suddenly confused with the whole situation, when had Vlad overshadowed this girl? How much of my embarrassment did this girl actually witness and how much of it was Vlad?

"Vlad when did you overshadow her? How much did she actually see?" Vlad growled at me in irritation before he explained.

"I picked out the two women before you even saw them Daniel. Rest assured none of your blunders will be remembered by either of the women. Now start moving or I swear to you, you will sorely regret it." I could almost feel my blood pressure drop in relief. Thank god. Finally realizing I was just standing there and attracting attention I hurriedly lead her onto the dance floor. She stumbled slightly as I pulled her along. I smiled weakly, forgetting for a moment that the girl was actually Vlad. She rolled her eyes in a very Vlad like fashion before taking her hands in mine and placing one on her hip while taking the other in her own.

"Daniel, I'm going to lead for now but that won't be acceptable when I'm not here. So pay attention for when you're going to have to do this without me here to assist you. For now I wasn't you to pretend that our feet are attached with stings alright. Now follow me." I stared at Vlad as he; well I guess she, took a very deliberate step to back with her left foot. Slightly delayed and really not knowing what else to do at the moment I moved my right foot forward. Without any prompting she moved her right backward and out to the right. I followed somewhat lagging with my left foot on the same path. The pattern repeated itself and my eyes were glued to the floor as we moved backwards forwards to the left and to the right. I was completely absorbed in the task of following the feet in high heels so that I wouldn't look like an idiot. After a while of the same pattern I started to move with the small high heels instead of slightly after them. Up until now Vlad had been completely silent, letting me focus on getting the dance right. Though he obviously wasn't going to let that continue now that I seemed to be getting it.

"Daniel look up at me. The floor isn't going anywhere. You look like you don't know what you're doing with your head down like that. You've at least got a handle on it now." Hesitantly I looked up into the face of the girl I was dancing with. I blushed as it hit me that I was dancing with a girl. Really a rather pretty girl. Even if she was overshadowed by Vlad at the moment. I forgot what I was supposed to be doing with my feet again and my eyes shot back down to the floor to figure it out.

"Daniel." My head came up again.

"Sorry." The girl, well Vlad, glared for a moment.

"Daniel, I understand why you would wish to apologize to me, but while I am under this guise it is not acceptable. Don't ever apologize to lesser people than you, it isn't becoming to a person of power. Do you understand?" My head recoiled a little in surprise.

"But-" Vlad sighed.

"Daniel your moral code does not apply here; surely you've figured that out by now. Don't apologize to people who are lesser than you because it makes you look weak. And just so you know _everyone_ is now lesser than you except for me." I gave Vlad an exasperated look, but before I could make some comment about how he was not the ruler of the world and that he was a real asshole for thinking he was the only person I would ever need to apologize to; he interrupted me.

"I am more powerful than you; I feed you, house you, clothe you, train you, and pay for your education. You are also my son so you will apologize to me and only to me, because that is what other people will expect from my heir. Being overly generous will get you nowhere. I know what I'm talking about." My mouth snapped shut and a glared lightly at Vlad. Okay fine, gezze. He didn't have to be so cross about it.

I was silent again as I tried to figure out how to dance, now without looking at my feet. I looked into the girls face as we spun around and around. I was really glad that I had a hardy stomach. All of this spinning and moving would not have sat well with Tucker.

I scowled slightly as I thought of my ex-friend and tried to think of something else. I focused back on what was right in front of me, which happened to be Vlad overshadowing a teenage girl. The complete oddness of that thought was great at doing what I wanted it to. I couldn't help but comment on it.

"Vlad this has got to be one of the weirdest things you have ever done." The girl's eyebrows shot up at my comment.

"Tara." It was my turn for my eyebrows to shoot up.

"What?" Vlad, well the girl, sighed.

"Tara, Daniel. This girl's name is Tara. While I doubt that anyone will be near for long enough to become suspicious of the use of my name in conversation; it would be odd for you to overly use my name when you are dancing with a young lady. As for the oddities of your current situation, they are not as uncommon as you would believe. This is a handy trick to have when I do not wish to listen to endless flirtations at social events. It really gets quite old." I scoffed at Vlad's explanations. Wow, he would do something like that. I couldn't fault him for overshadowing girls for his own convenience though. I had done it several times too, so I couldn't exactly call him out on it in fairness. Vlad, or Tara, was looking at me like they were expecting me to make a comment. I smirked and was more than happy to oblige.

"I guess that makes sense. I was wondering how you were able to walk, let alone dance in high heels so well. You've just had a lot of practice." Vlad/Tara snorted before quickly covering it up as a cough.

"Touché Daniel. I will never understand why women where these things. Forget the fact that they are difficult to walk in they are downright painful. It's like a dull knife is cutting into that skin above your toes in a _good_ pair. Honestly if you know that you are going to be on your feet for more than a few hours why would you willingly wear something that you know is going to cause you grief?" I started to shrug but stopped when I felt Vlad/Tara's hand tighten where it was placed on my shoulder to keep me form completing the motion. I settled for verbally responding.

"I don't have any more clue than you do." Vlad/Tara smirked amusedly at me. We fell back into silence as we moved around the dance floor. I stared off into space, mindlessly moving my feet having repeated the same pattern enough times now to rely on muscle memory for the most part.

"Daniel the song is going to end in a moment. I do believe you will be fine without my guidance now so I won't be helping you with the next young lady. Do you think you will be fine or do you want me to stay?" I blinked a few times. My eyes had gotten dry because I hadn't blinked when I was staring off into space.

"No I think I'll be okay. I'll find a way to let you know if I need help again though I'm sure." Vlad/Tara shook her head slightly.

"Very well. In a moment the song is going to end and I am going to exit the girl. Obviously she is going to be very confused. Don't mind that and just politely bow and thank her for the dance. She'll deal with her confusion herself and draw her own conclusions later. You won't have to worry about finding a new partner either. Being who you are, there are already multiple young ladies lined up to take Tara's place when the song is over. Remember to hold yourself well and speak politely. Don't get too generous with your sarcastic commentary. It won't be appreciated here for what it is. For all the money these people have they are incredibly dim witted. Make me proud, son." With that the orchestra on stage drew out the last note of the ballad they were playing to a light smattering of applause. Tara the girl I was dancing with staggered slightly signaling that Vlad had officially left her. She blinked warily. I supported her weight for a moment and when she stood on her own I bowed slightly like Vlad had said to.

"Thank you kindly for the dance Tara. It was lovely." The girl looked at me confused for a moment before she just went with it and curtseyed.

"You're very welcome. Have a nice night." She absently wandered off of the dance floor in a daze. In less than three seconds there was another girl standing in Tara's spot. I couldn't tell for sure but it looked like she was dressed as a Barbie.

"Barbra Trump. Donald Trump is my grandfather. I saw you were in need of a new partner I would be delighted if you would oblige." She held out her hand with a questioning eyebrow. I heaved an internal sigh of anxiety and bowed slightly to accept the hand. I could do this. I was doing it when Vlad was here. It was exactly the same only now I dancing with a girl who would actually remember the experience.

"Daniel James Masters. The pleasure would be mine." I sent her a cold grin that would've made Vlad proud, or at least I hope it would have. It wasn't long before the Orchestra was starting a new song and I was taking the first steps as we would work our way around the dance floor. The first few steps were awkward. I couldn't help a blush as we shuffled around for a moment before getting into the swing of things. I didn't miss the way the girl, Barbra, giggled at my discomfort. I just tried to ignore her and keep from stepping on her toes. In a moment of panic or genius, I made my feet intangible. Nobody would notice, and this way I was sure I wouldn't step on any toes. Barbra's or otherwise. I tried to keep my face in an indifferent expression as I led Barbra around the couples that were dancing around us. I was focusing so hard on getting my feet in the right place that I was startled when Barbra started to make conversation.

"So, Daniel…" There was a slight pause in her sentence that I used to my advantage.

"Please, call me Dan; if it wouldn't be too much trouble." She smiled warmly and batted her eyelashes once or twice.

"Of course not. So…Dan…This is a lovely party you and your father have put together. I know my family does take a particular pleasure in attending every year. It's a shame that your father doesn't throw more. His Dances are quite legendary." I gave just the tiniest of nod's in acknowledgment; still trying to focus on not messing up.

"So I've gathered. It was quite the experience watching all of it come together. If I had to guess as to why father doesn't hold more of these occasions it would be that they do take up an amount of his time that he would rather not be sacrificed." The attention I had to pay to sounding like a rich idiot when I spoke caused me to mis-step. I was grateful for the idea I had of making my feet intangible when I felt my shoe pass through where I would have stepped on Barbra's right foot. I had to resist letting my eyes sink to the floor so I could make sure my feet were in the right spot again. Thankfully it didn't look like Barbra had noticed anything, though I did see some goosebumps rise on her exposed forearm; probably from the weird unidentifiable feeling of my foot phasing through hers. I couldn't help a smirk as she stuttered when she responded.

"Y-Yes I can understand that I guess."

And so it went on like that. I danced with at least twelve different girls, and 'stepped' on eight different feet. Every single time whoever I was dancing with would shiver involuntarily, one girl even looked down at her feet to try and see what was wrong, but by the time she looked down my foot was moved away and everything appeared normal to her. Just because my foot was intangible didn't mean that it was invisible in any way.

The whole time whoever I was dancing with would flirt shamelessly with me and make meaningless conversation. I think at one point I talked about the weather with someone. I mean really could you get anymore cliché. I had only danced with three girls before I was understanding more why Vlad would see the need to overshadow whoever he was dancing with. Every single person I danced with would bat their eyelashes or say something about how nice I looked or how good a dancer I was. Yeah right.

As the dancing wore on I noticed that everyone else was starting to get tired so I slowed down my own pace to accommodate everyone else. I was grateful that my endurance meant that while everyone else was getting tired I was still going strong. It really helped that I could still focus on not messing up, plus it just made me look better. Eventually the air around me started to get uncomfortably stuffy and hot from all of the body heat. Really more on a whim than anything I decided to see what I could do to fix it. I tried to let just a smidge of my ice energy go, and everyone in the vicinity shivered with the abrupt change in temperature, especially the girl I was dancing with. A guy and girl standing next to us even completely stopped dancing and looked for the source of the cold. I only smirked knowingly and kept dancing. From that point on I started experimenting with freaking people out. I think I had at least thirty people shivering and hopelessly confused by now.

I was really completely bored. I had been dancing for at least a half an hour and I had no desire to keep listening to girls blatantly try and make me their boyfriend in less than thirty seconds. I had tried, numerous times to get off the dance floor, but I was stopped each time by some other girl who wanted a dance.

Finally another song ended and I was going to try and make a break for it again. I bowed quickly to the girl I was dancing with. I couldn't really remember her name, and I didn't really care. I was about ten feet away from freedom when I was once again intercepted. I seriously had to repress the urge to just curse the girl away and tell her to move out of my way. Though once I realized who it was that had intercepted me this time; I had to stop myself from looking surprised. I thought she would have gone back to hiding someplace.

"Hello Dan, would you like to dance?" Emma's shy voice hesitantly inquired. I stopped and stood for a minute. I honestly would have rather said no and gotten off the dance floor for good, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, even if it had been a girl I didn't know.

I glanced over Emma's shoulder and saw her mom looking at her with scrutiny. Suddenly Emma's hesitant demeanor made more sense. Her mom had probably forced her to come over here. The hero side in me decided again that this was a damsel in distress that needed saving. Okay I could do one more dance before I was done.

"My dear lady it would be my honor." I bowed slightly and held out my hand to receive Emma's She giggled lightly and took it. It was a few more seconds before the Orchestra started playing again and we were off. I tried making eye contact with Emma to start some sort of conversation so that it wouldn't be awkwardly silent, but she wouldn't meet my gaze. Finally I just resigned myself to staring over her shoulder and waiting till this song was done so I could try to make another escape attempt. I could already spot the girls who were lining up at the edge of the crowd to come take Emma's place. Damn them. I probably wouldn't be getting away after this song either.

"I'm sorry I got us discovered, and especially about my mom. Usually she's not _that_ bad. If I knew that all those people would have come over like that I wouldn't have tried to hide with you. It's all my fault." Well that was unexpected. I had mostly forgotten about that whole situation, having been distracted by girls' endless chatter since then. I guess it would make sense that she would feel guilty for that. She was kind of the reason I was discovered. I probably would still be hiding in my corner if it hadn't been for her bright white dress that had given us away. One look into her guilty face and though, and I found my hero side screaming at me to do something to make her feel better. Even if at the same time I was partially blaming her for my fate; she shouldn't feel bad about it.

"It's fine. I was going to be discovered sooner or later. You just made it so that it was sooner. It's really not significant." I watched as Emma blushed underneath her veil. I couldn't bring myself to feel guilty for making her embarrassed. She was the one who had brought the subject up. It's not like anyone could see her blush underneath that veil unless they were as close as I was anyway. Plus she had caused me way more embarrassment than that, so it only was right that she feel a little embarrassed. There was a lull in conversation that I was pretty sure was awkward for her, but not for me. Living with Vlad makes a person pretty accustom to silence. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and she started talking. She took a shot in the dark at conversation, not really trying very hard to make it something relevant or interesting.

"So it's Halloween, do you think that the vampire ghost that haunts this mansion will show?" I had to keep from snorting in laughter. I however could not stop the malicious grin that spread over my face. The irony of her statement didn't escape me.

"Oh yeah, I definitely think he'll make an appearance." Emma didn't share the humor I was enjoying though. Likewise, the sarcasm in my statement flew completely over her head without the context it was said in. Instead she looked surprised at my answer.

"So you believe in ghosts?" I heaved an internal sigh with the question. If I had a dime for every time someone had asked me that question. Being the son of two ghost hunters, that question got asked more often than not. As such I had a pre-arranged answer for such a question. I spouted off my answer without really giving it a second thought. It was phrased in such a way that it sounded smart and nobody could really call me an idiot for saying it; so I figured it was safe.

"Well, there is a great deal of evidence that advocates for their existence. It's not so much that I believe that they exist as much as that nobody has proved that they don't exist." Emma gave me thoughtful look before she nodded.

"I guess that's one way to look at things." Satisfied that I wasn't going to be declared a freak at the moment I nodded as well and we were plunged again into a lull in conversation. I used the time to just think about the girl I was dancing with. You really wouldn't think she would be hanging out with the likes of Bill, she seemed too shy for that. You really had to wonder how she got into that group of people. I had seen her with Bill and she didn't seem the type to assert herself at all. Without that character trait I was sort of at a loss as to how she came to associate with Bill. She really didn't deserve to be dealing with all that. She was just too nice. I decided to voice my thoughts

"How did you meet Bill Ford? I really wouldn't have taken you for the type to associate with people like him." She thought for a moment before she shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I had some information he needed and I gave it to him. Ever since he started talking to me other people have stopped picking on me so I keep in contact with him. He's not the nicest guy, but he's okay and he keeps me from being pushed around." I raised an eyebrow at her response which caused her to blush again. I was about to tell her to stick up for herself and be proud of who she was before I stopped myself. She obviously wasn't very comfortable admitting that had been bullied. As a victim of Dash's harassment I totally understood why. It wouldn't be good to push her away by telling her to grow some thicker skin, when that wasn't what she needed to hear. Instead I just tried to be consoling.

"I can understand where you are coming from Emma, believe it or not. Though I probably wouldn't go to someone like Bill for help I can see why you did. As a gentleman I would happily help you if there is anyone you need dealt with. You don't need to put up with Bill so that you avoid a worse fate." Emma angled her head down and mumbled something incoherently that I couldn't understand. I just decided to smile back at her and pull her a little closer to make her feel comfortable. I _knew_ she couldn't be friends with Bill. She was too innocent for that, really. Hopefully she would tell me if she was getting crap from people and I could help her. Even if she had ousted me from my hiding place earlier, nobody deserved to be picked on.

The Orchestra drew out the last few notes and the dancing came to a stop again with light applause from the people on the dance floor. Emma and I bowed and Emma slipped away while I tried to do the same. This time I was almost to the crowd that surrounded the dance floor before the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz caught my arm. Damn it! It was like this thing was never going to end. I really hate Halloween.

Line Break.

I bowed my head again as the last person exited the grand front doors to their limo, Vlad at my side doing the same. Without hesitation Vlad shut the front doors and we were finally rid of everyone. Vlad and I both fell into the couch in the entry way, completely exhausted. The lack of noise causing a ringing in my ears as we just sat in the entry way, not really having enough motivation to move to our beds just yet.

The Ball had been okay. I definitely was going to do a better job of getting myself out of it next year. That or I was going to master making invisible duplicates in my human form by that time. I totally understood why Vlad only held one Ball a year. They were exhausting.

Sick of having the stupid thing on my face I quickly peeled the mask off of my face. It hurt a little bit, coming off, but it was worth it to get rid of the stupid thing. I rubbed the skin on the left half of my face. Happy that it could finally breathe again. My attention was brought to Vlad as he did a very bad job of hiding a laugh. I looked up to him.

"What?" When I looked at him he only laughed outright.

"Half of your face is completely red!" I sent him a glare which only caused him to shake his head and laugh harder. He bit down on his lip trying to contain himself. However his fangs poked into his lip causing him to abruptly stop laughing and wipe the blood off of his chin. I only smirked at the cosmic justice. Vlad sent me a warning glare, knowing that he had been served right and warning me not to make a comment on it. I ignored his warning.

"Gezze Vlad I know you dressed up as a vampire and all but I didn't know you liked your costume that much. If you wanted to drink blood for real I met a few Twilight obsessed girls who would be more than happy to help." Vlad only growled at me causing me to let out a snort of laughter.

"Go to bed Daniel."


	38. Chapter 38: The Masters in Mind

AN:/ Alright guys i guess I'll throw you a bone. it's short so don't get too excited. No once again, I have not stopped working on this. I just happen to be in college now and starting a new chapter in my life. I am still working on this though. Honestly Iv'e spent too much time on this to stop doing it now. So no matter how long this eventually takes it will get finished. I'm actually about a third of the way through the next chapter as we speak. I'm really excited about it actually. That and the next couple of chapters will be kind of fun so yeah. I really like this chapter despite its length. I like the voice a lot. just cuz there is more of me in it and I'm not working so hard to personify whatever character happens to be in first person at the moment.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 38 The Masters in Mind

by: deadlydaisy808

_Originally Uploaded: Sunday, September 25, 2011, 12:07 AM_

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**Third Person POV**

It was Monday, November 2. The Monday immediately following Halloween. Currently it was 12:32 on what was turning out to be a typical fall day. The sun was radiating heat onto everybody it's rays could reach, making it almost unbearably hot; likewise those left in the shadows without the sun's rays to warm them, were left to wither in cold. Because of the typical fall weather, five teenagers were finding it increasingly difficult to find a comfortable seat next to the overlarge windows in their private dining room.

After watching his acquaintances struggle and squirm under the inescapable rays of the oppressive sun, Cem Kent, son of the CEO of Coca Cola got up to shut the blinds; putting his fellows out of their misery and making them feel increasingly stupid for not having thought of the simple solution themselves. Ellyn Gates, daughter of Bill Gates, rolled her eyes at Cem's smirk and continued to sip at her iced tea while she waited for conversation to start. Adrian Brin, son of the founder of Google, briefly nodded in thanks, for the glare from the sun was making it difficult to see his computer screen. Emma Conant merely blinked and looked down at her lap sheepishly. The sudden change in lighting had snapped her out of her daydreams of a certain black haired blue eyed new kid. Ever since her dance with the mysterious Masters on Halloween she hadn't been able to keep herself from wondering about the infamous heir. Bill Ford, Great grandson of Henry Ford, scowled at having been made look a fool. Bill only waited for Cem to sit down in his casual way before he deftly started conversation to redeem his dignity.

"Well, anything? I didn't see Dan at the dance at all. Even though my Dad did talk to Vlad Masters the runt was nowhere in sight. Off probably hiding in a corner like a scared toddler who doesn't know how to handle himself at these sorts of things." Emma let her brown locks fall around her face as she blushed. Very aware that she fell into the category of scared toddlers Bill had just described. Cem spoke up and decided to share the humorous tidbit he had witnessed involving Masters.

"Well he definitely was _there_. I know he was mobbed by a horde of mom's at one point. Poor guy." Cem snickered in his own amusement at another's misfortune before he continued. " I had gone to get you or Adrian to record the whole thing but by the time I had turned around the mob had been dispersed. I did catch a glimpse of Vlad Masters walking away with Dan though. So that explains how that worked out." Cem shrugged before the natural turn of conversation landed everyone's attention on Ellyn. She merely raised her eyebrows skeptically before she added her two cents.

"Well I didn't dance with him, if that's what you're wondering. I wasn't going to run up to him like some sort of dog as all the rest of the girls there seemed intent on doing. I don't care if you're the prince of England; if he wanted to dance, he could've asked me like a gentleman. Though it's not like he ever made it off of the dance floor. He must've danced with twenty different girls. I suppose we could weave some rumor about how he was feeling girls up. We could make him out to be a real perv, with the amount of girls he was dancing with." Ellyn trailed off, gauging how her half hazard idea would be received. Adrian shook his head slightly and stretched his back as he shut his computer.

"There is no way that rumor would take. It's too late to influence how he was perceived at the dance. There is already too much gossip out there about how much of a gentleman he was, blah blah blah. If there was anything we could use against him it would be how horrible of a dancer he was, but I doubt that would take either. I've already read several comments from girls who thought it was 'cute' that he seemed to have two left feet. At this point we'd need something quirkier than that anyway. People aren't going to turn away from him because of something little like that. We need something bigger." There was a pause in conversation as Cem, Bill, and Adrian all stared off into space to think.

None of the men thought to ask Emma what she might know. There really was no chance that the shy girl would have approached Dan by herself and none of them could see her having the courage to do anything but hide in the shadows as she usually did. None of the _men_ thought to ask, but Ellyn did.

"Emma, you got yourself a dance with Dan, didn't you?" The boys in the room all suddenly were ripped from their thoughts with the statement. They looked quickly to Ellyn before their gazes swiveled one by one to Emma for her response. There was an expectant look on Bill's face that caused the shy girl to lower her gaze to the table. Emma froze under all of the sudden attention not, having enough nerve to look her accusers in the face to answer the question. Bill quickly became impatient and harshly prompted her to answer.

"Well, Emma, did you?" Emma kept her silent gaze to the table. Refusing, for the moment, to answer. She could not help but remember with startling clarity the conversations she had had with Dan that night. She had no trouble at all recalling his appalling dancing, or his confession of believing in ghosts. She perfectly recalled the way that he said that he would protect her from people like Bill if they ever gave her any trouble. She remembered the way that Dan had offered her sanctuary and understanding. In her heart she knew she couldn't condemn her proverbial protector to the rumor mill. She also knew that she couldn't lie about speaking with him, because Ellyn had seen that she had danced with Dan. She didn't glance up when she made her answer. Unable to hold her accuser's gaze.

"Yes. I did. My mom made sure I did." Emma took a quick bite of her food. Trying to stall for time. She knew the questions that would be asked next and she desperately did not want to answer them. The rest of the people in the room watched Emma chew silently, watching her squirm uncomfortably. Finally Bill broke the silence.

"Well?" Emma fidgeted once again as Bill's accusing gaze bored into her. She let the hairs that had fallen out of her loose ponytail fall in her face. She wouldn't tell Bill anything. She couldn't. Not after Dan had courted her so. Not after he had selflessly offered her his protection.

"He wouldn't really talk about anything with me. He knew I associate with Bill and was uncomfortable talking about anything more personal than the decorations." There was a muttered 'dammit' as Bill slumped slightly. Seeing his last chance at dirt on the naive little Masters boy slip through his fingers. Bill had hoped that after the Dance there would be something that he could use to discredit the annoying brat.

That was it then. He was going to have to resort to more crass measures.

"Alright, well I think we all remember the day we dinned with Masters?" there was a collective nod. "He leveled a threat against our harming of Jason Laurie if I recall. That in itself seems sort of suspicious to me. What reason would he have to protect that little twerp? I'd bet money that Jason knows something. I think we should get to him, somehow, and see what he knows. Then just so Masters knows we don't take him seriously we let the rumor mill run on Laurie for a while. Why should we leave the snit alone, because Masters says so? Fat chance." There were collective sounds of agreement at the plan. Really none of them could come up with anything better. It was there best shot at Masters at the moment and they supposed they should take it. Everyone agreed and conversation shifted towards the 'capture' and 'interrogation' of Jason as the atmosphere became more relaxed and they all returned to their food.

Unbenounced to everyone else in the room Emma was not pleased with the current plan. Jason was about as high up as Emma on the scale of power in the school. Jason would be going through hell if the plans laid out were left to be executed. Emma knew Jason. She knew he struggled with is parents approval at home. She knew that there was a small rumor floating around about Jason being gay that had a basis in truth. She knew that if that rumor was blown up to it's full potential, it would tear Jason's family apart.

What could she do? She couldn't let this happen. Not to someone she knew. She wouldn't say that she and Jason were friends, but they had been comrades of a sort. Being of the same status at a point before she had gotten caught up with Bill.

She had to pick the lesser of two evils. She knew there was a way to stop this from happening. She thought of Dan and how he had offered his protection. How he had made her feel comfortable and wanted. He would want her to protect Jason like Dan had protected her, wouldn't he? He would understand when she explained.

It didn't occur to Emma that Jason was as much under Dan's protection as she was. That if Bill did take a swipe a Jason, despite Dan's warning, that he would be avenged swiftly and brutally. If for no other reason than to prove that Dan's word was not to be trifled with. It didn't occur to Emma that there were other options as she betrayed the only person to ever sympathize with her and offer her protection from those that would do her harm.

"Wait guys. I remember something Dan said briefly that maybe we would use!" Conversation abruptly stopped and all of the attention was once again foisted upon the shy and timid Emma Conant.

"Well spit it out!" Bill had a giant smile on his face in anticipation of what Emma had managed to gather about Masters. Emma fidgeted briefly, assuring herself that she was doing the right thing before she spoke.

"Dan Masters told me that he believes in ghosts. Especially the one that is supposed to haunt the Masters Mansion." A wicked grin spread over Bill's face at the bit of gossip. Ellyn merely scoffed at the bizarre expression that had appeared on Bill's face. Finding the look increasingly juvenile.

"Really Bill don't get ahead of yourself. Even if that little fact happens to be true, Dan could easily deny it and no one would question him. You need some sort of proof before you go spread that story around." Slowly their gazes turned to Adrian and his laptop. Keys were already being clicked away as Adrian did their research. After a long moment Adrian glanced up and spun his laptop around. Displaying an article about a company called Axion Labs.

"Well, I couldn't find anything that would absolutely confirm that Dan believes in ghosts. I did however find this." Not bothering to read what was on the screen Bill just stared dumbly at Adrian waiting for an explanation. Adrian resisted rolling his eyes and after a pause where it was made clear Bill was waiting for him he continued to speak.

"Axion Labs is another chemical company that Vlad owns. They produce regular commercial chemicals, but their main products are ghost weapons. Used for the hunting, capture, and study of ghosts." Bill was beside himself with glee. He let out a low chuckle that was supposed to sound dark and menacing, but ended up sounding like a little kids attempt at a laughing super-villain. Ellyn rolled her eyes and bypassed reprimanding Bill for his completely idiotic behavior in favor of dictating the new plan so everyone would be on the same page.

"Alright then that is obviously more than enough proof than we needed. We can't exactly prove that Dan believes in ghosts, but we can definitely prove that the Elder Masters does. That is just as good if not better. I have no doubt that with this information brought to light that the rumor will take hold." Emma couldn't help but sigh in relief. She had successfully spared Jason and Dan would be able to protect himself from this. She was in the clear. Emma became confused however when it looked like Cem had something to say. She watched in horror as she registered what came tumbling out of Cem's mouth.

" You know, we can make sure this get's out and we can also get to Jason and see what he knows. Might as well you know? It's not like we can't do both. " Emma's eyes widened at the last bit. She timidly interjected, her voice just a bit higher than normal.

"Um, we don't really need to go after Jason now though do we? We don't really want to do all that work?" Cem shrugged, oblivious as to why Emma would be hesitant to go after Jason.

"It won't be that hard. Really Laurie is already practically falling apart by the seams. And if were going to ruin Masers we might as well go all the way." Before Emma could say anything else, Bill interrupted.

"Cem that's brilliant. I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Cem just rolled his eyes at the praise and went back to his Hawaiian chicken burger. Emma put her own fork down as she watched her plan fail utterly, and spectacularly around her.


	39. Chapter 39: Old Habits Die Hard

AN:/ here's another one! it's kind of short I guess. In comparison to the other chapters, but i still like it. I don't know. I'm kind of sad it isn't longer. But once again, I really didn't think it needed to be. Sorry that this is kind of just thrown in the middle of the plot i had going. but I wanted a break from the line, and this is what I came up with. There are still other components to the story besides Bill and his escapades. So yup. I'm still working on this thing and I think I'm finally getting back into the swing of it!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 39: Old Habits Die Hard

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, October 3, 2011, 11:24PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

I smirked to myself as I flicked the glowing cell phone shut and put it, once again, in the case attached to my belt. It finally worked. It had only taken me about a week to build it, but the delay in my plans had tested my patients all the same. The cellphone was now capable of reaching a wireless network I had set up in my lab. This way I would be able to communicate with anyone in the human world while I was in the Ghost Zone.

Communication was the only thing holding me back from my plans to find "Clockwork" after Daniel had made sure that I was on neutral terms with the Far Frozen. Really that expedition had taken care of quite a few road blocks in my plans to find this mysterious "Clockwork" character. I could have gone on with the plan without the phone, I suppose. But it wasn't as if the opportunity to find this "Clockwork" was going to disappear any time soon. I took the time to build the phone because it would give me a peace of mind. Even after Daniel had preformed more than admirably at the Ball last Saturday, I was still wary of leaving him by himself for more than a few hours without a method to contact me. My previous exploits into the Ghost Zone had only taken about three hours at the absolute most. Tonight I would be gone for a majority of the time that Daniel would be sleeping. Despite the leaps and bounds Daniel had made in his recovery, I was still wary of anything that might cause him to take steps backward; this included not being able to contact me when and if he was in trouble. The chance was slim of course that he would need to contact me during the night, he hadn't had a reason to so far, but the chance was there nonetheless. With the phone in my possession I knew now that if Daniel came to any trouble while I was in the Ghost Zone, he would be able to contact me.

Currently Daniel was asleep of course. I had spent my day at work resting and saving my energy for tonight so that I would be able to stay alert through the hours of the night that Daniel would be the most deeply asleep. In addition I had run a diagnostic with Daniel in his powers training this evening. As a result he was extremely tired. I even doubted he would have enough energy to dream tonight. Before I left I had made sure that Daniel's cellphone was within easy reach on his nightstand so that he could contact me if there were any problems. Though, once more, I doubted there would be. There was simply nothing that could possibly cause any problems to begin with. I had had the maids stay overnight, so they would be aware of any thieves and call me long before they got deep enough in the house to harm Daniel. The Ghost Portal was closed and locked. Even if a ghost got inside the mansion due to some twist of fate, they wouldn't dare hurt a hair on Daniel's head because of the cease-fire I had ordered.

There was simply no excuse for my plan not to move forward. Tonight was the night I was going to find out what had Daniel so worked up. I was going to find this "Clockwork" and I was going to take care of this _him_ so that no one could ever hurt Daniel again. Watching Daniel at the Ball this past weekend, watching him submerge himself in my world and flourish despite his inexperience, it renewed my vigor to find this _him_. I had finally been able to give Daniel a chance to thrive and no one was going to take that away. There was no way I was going to let anything ever hinder my little badger's sense of security again.

I chuckled lightly to myself as I reveled in the feeling of executing a good evil plot. I suppose this particular plot wasn't as _evil_ as far as my plots tended to go, but nonetheless it had been a long while since I had endeavored to participate in anything that required significant planning. I concentrated on my destination as I prepared to teleport directly to my first stop.

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"For the last time Youngblood! I-" Amorpho, if I remembered correctly, stopped abruptly as he realized that I was not who he had thought was knocking at his door. I raised an amused eyebrow at his exclamations. Only slightly curious as to what could have provoked them.

"Forgive me, Amorpho was it? I was hoping to collect on an offer I seem to recall you making.", Amorpho stuttered and stepped back slightly from the doorframe. I could see the wish to retreat further into his home as clearly in his posture as a blaring neon sign.

"P-Plasmius. What a surprise. I wasn't expecting you.", Amorpho drawled in his nasally voice, attempting and failing to cover up his unease. I looked down my nose slightly at the grey blob. I sincerely hoped that he was better at deception after I had provided him with the proper… _motivation_. I let a casual tone slip into my voice while still retaining a sharp edge.

"No you wouldn't, would you? Your services, Amorpho? You offered them and I am here to collect. I'm running short on time you see, so no time for pleasantries. That is of course, unless you were thinking of withdrawing your offer?" I let my eyes flare dangerously, a clear warning of what would happen should he even think about reconsidering. Amorpho gulped as he slowly moved towards me and into the space before his door. I moved back slightly to accommodate. He shakily shut the door and locked it behind him.

"O-of course not. So what was it you needed assistance with? A large scale office prank perhaps?" I lightly scoffed and my eyebrows drew together in skepticism. If Amorpho had known about my daily escapades at work perhaps the suggestion wouldn't have been so far fetched. However, he did not, which made the suggestion nonsensical and moronic. I dropped the pretense of casualness. I was not in the mood to deal with idiots at present.

"Amorpho, do not engage in such acts of ignorance with me. You know that I would not participate in such juvenile acts. No, I am going to put your talents to a far _better_ use." Amorpho nodded shakily as I stared at him, waiting for his reply.

"I apologize, please forgive me. What was it exactly that you needed again?" I lightly glared at the shape shifter as I spoke next; ensuring that I would be received with the utmost seriousness.

"You are going to impersonate Daniel to help me acquire the Infi-Map from the leader of the Far Frozen.", I waited for some protest or reaction from the nervous specter. The imbicile before me must have possessed some form of intelligence because beyond a widening of the eyes, there was none. I continued. "You will do an impeccable job. Their leader, Frostbite, is intimately acquainted with Daniel and will not be fooled by any halfhearted attempt. Your work must be perfect. He will be more inclined to trust and converse with you. It will be on your shoulders that this plan succeeds or fails. I don't believe it is necessary to inform you of what the consequences should be if you fail, am I correct?"Amorpho loudly gulped, which was puzzling considering he had no mouth at the moment, and nodded his head up and down. I let an evil smirk spread over my face. Yes I definitely missed some parts of my evil scheming.

"Excellent. This is what is going to happen. We are going to acquire the map under the guise that this time, we are making peace between Daniel and my own allies. You are going to approach Frostbite as an old friend. You are going to engage in conversation for a minute or two. You will head off the attempt at a feast he will likely make. You will confirm our need to save time by adding that I have many more allies than Daniel, and that if we wish to finish visiting them all in any timely manner we must be heading off. If he asks any questions about how Daniel is fairing with me. You will roll your eyes and make a comment about how life living in a mansion with a billionaire can only be so good. I will glare at you and you will not flinch or show any sign of fear, is that clear? You will _not_ show any sign of fear, at any point in the altercation. In fact, you will return my glare or disdain with a smirk of your own. Are we in complete understanding?" I fixed the glob of idiocy with a stare I reserved for making my employees cry or tremor. This detail was vital to the plan. Not only could openly displayed fear compromise his cover, but it could also cause me to fall out of favor with the Far Frozen and I simply could not afford either of those consequences. My glare had its desired effect as the grey blob started to twitch and stutter incoherently.

"B-b…Th…A-a…" I gave Amorpho a moment to overcome his stuttering. When he did not I spoke again in an impatient drawl.

"As I've already articulated, time is of the essence. If you would stop wasting it and transform that would be splendid. Don't forget the weapons Daniel was wearing last time we visited." Amorpho hurriedly nodded and transformed into Daniel's ghost form, including the weapons I had had Daniel wear. Realistically if I were going to have Daniel go and make peace with my allies, as Daniel had me do with his, I would not have let him get within a mile of anyone without the weaponry. My allies were _far_ less forgiving than Daniel's.

I frowned and resisted rolling my eyes as Amorpho, now as Daniel, still cowered before me like a kicked puppy. Oh, this simply would not do.

"Amorpho, get into character. Do you honestly think Daniel acts like a submissive pawn around me?" I watched with some amusement as Amorpho tried to straighten out his back and hold my gaze; only succeeding for a few seconds before having to look away. I sighed and flicked my wrists, alighting them with electric-ecto-energy; I suppose he was going to need more immediately obvious consequences for disobedience.

Daniel recoiled with fear at the sight of my lit fists. I repressed a frown and had to remind myself that for all Amorpho looked like Daniel he was not. Still, seeing Daniel's visage in such a frightened state was unnerving, and I would not stand for it. I growled for Amorpho having made me so upset.

"Amorpho need I remind you the consequences for anything less than a perfect imitation in this mission?" Amorpho's eyes widened briefly in fear and realization before they hardened into a fake glare.

"As if. And you'd have to catch me first fruitloop!" Amorpho as Daniel adopted a spectral tail and spiraled away slightly. I smirked.

"Much better. Though I will have you know _Daniel_," I teleported to Amorpho's side and grabbed his forearm, "that you go so far as to call me that blasted name one more time I will have no problems _catching_ you." I smirked at Amorpho in Daniel's form and didn't leave him any time to react as I teleported us away.

* * *

"Great One! And Plasmius, we were not expecting you back so soon. Is everything alright?" Frostbite stood in surprise, a concerned look on his face, as we appeared beside the table that had held the welcoming feast we were treated to the previous time I was here. Amorpho remained silent and nervously looked around, oblivious to the fact that Frostbite was calling him. I roughly elbowed him in the gut and sent him a covert glare.

"_Daniel_, everything is fine see? I've teleported with a partner before; there was nothing to worry about. It only takes slightly more energy than usual and wasn't a practical mode of transportation for our entire trip." Amorpho gazed up at me in fear for a moment before he scrambled to adapt an annoyed look.

"Well thanks for telling me ahead of time Vlad." Amorpho then grumbled under his breath for added benefit. "Letting me stand over here wondering whether I'll still have all my limbs…" Frostbite, still concerned over the fact that he was being ignored, spoke to Amorpho again.

"Great One, is everything alright? You seem… unwell." Frostbite then leaned down to whisper, not so discretely in his ear, "Is everything still going well with Plasmius?" This was it. I continued to look apathetic, but on the inside I was glaring daggers at Amorpho. He had better get this right. Amorpho responded in an equally discrete whisper.

"Yeah, Frostbite, everything is fine. I'm just a little jumpy about our trip today…" Frostbite narrowed his eyes skeptically before turning his gaze to me. That blasted imbicile had ruined it! Frostbite was going to be suspicious of me the entire time now. Didn't I tell the idiot _exactly _what to do in this situation? Hadn't I told him to make a witty remark about living in luxury? Was his memory so poor that he couldn't remember simple directions? Frostbite stood back up fully and continued to speak.

"I believe there is some new technology in the medical wing that Plasmius may be interested in investigating. I could have one of my warriors escort him to see it while The Great One and I do some catching up?" Frostbite looked to Amorpho now for his answer. The suggestion was obviously a play against me so that Frostbite could be alone with 'Daniel', and make sure everything was truly all right. Amorpho now shook his head frantically as if panicked and I wanted to strangle the little wretch right there for acting so over anxious. Couldn't he see he was making the yeti suspicious? Amorpho spoke up in response.

"No! Nope really that's okay! We have a lot of places to be today. We really just needed to get the map and be heading off." Where on earth was that insipid confidence I had seen Amorpho use when I had been with Daniel? His acting was horrible. I was severely regretting dragging Amorpho into this at the moment. My mind was quickly trying to formulate a way to abort the mission before I could be completely discovered. Frostbite, however, was not leaving me any opening to gather control of the conversation.

" Another trip with the map then, and so soon?" Frostbite sent me another icy glare, fortunately not in the literal sense, as he continued. "Quite alright, but you must stay for a feast first. I insist! It isn't so often you come to visit after all. We have so much to talk about. And your still so tense, you need to relax Great One. I've been over this with you. Too much stress is doing not just you, but others harm." The giant yeti placed his clawed paw gently on Amorpho's shoulder and started to guide him away from me. Amorpho shot a look to me under the yeti's arm for a moment. I merely raised my eyebrows at him before he was back to playing his part.

"Uh, actually Frostbite we really don't have time. You see we're going to see all of Vlad's allies today, and he has way more than I do. If we want to get through all of them today we'll have to be quick about it. I mostly just want to get it over with. It's making me really nervous." Frostbite's face fell. Obviously still not happy, but mostly suspecting me and not 'Daniel' and his strange behavior.

"Are you quite positive that that is _all _that is making you uncomfortable?" Frostbite glanced ever so slightly in my direction once more. I was sincerely hoping that I imagined the chill that went down my spine as he briefly made eye contact. Yes, I needed to get out of here soon. I knew when I was out of my depths, and being surrounded by Ancient Ice Yeti who are suspicious of me harming their coveted hero was definitely out of my depth. As I plotted a rout of escape, conversation continued in front of me. Amorpho looked up at Frostbite with feigned curiosity for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm sure. But why would you-" a look a fake surprise came over his face. "No! Frostbite, come on! You've got to give Vlad more credit than that! I'm perfectly fine. I'm only nervous about the trip, honest! Besides, I'm living in the lap of luxury with a 'crazed up fruitloop', and that can only get so good huh?" He then shot Frostbite Daniel's patented sly smirk. My fists clenched behind my back as Amorpho specifically kept his eyes averted from my direction. That pertinent snot! I could care less about characterization; he did not call me that after I had specifically warned him against it. There were plenty of other less than flattering names that would have gotten the point across, but he just had to use _that one._

Oh, I saw the necessity of the move. Currently, Daniel was the only one who could get away with calling me such names and not be obliterated. By my not reacting beyond a venomous glare, as Frostbite looked me over, I had confirmed that everything was 'alright', in the elder's eyes. That did not mean Amorpho would not be paying dearly for the insult later. I reigned in my anger. Frostbite stood back up and laughed a hearty laugh, 'seeing' that all was well.

"I'm glad to hear it, Oh Great One! I'm glad to hear it!" He settled down some and looked with an inviting smile between the two of us. Now sure of our intentions.

"I suppose that's alright then. Though I must ask," Frostbite lowered his gaze to mine, "if going to see all of Plasmius' allies is safe at present?" I looked back up to the snow creature, a certain respect for him forming despite myself. These people truly did have nothing but Daniel's safety in mind. I was the one to respond this time. Now that things were back on track I was determined to keep them that way.

"It will be quite alright I assure you. I already have them all on a cease-fire with Daniel, and that is without Daniel's cooperation. I will also of course be there to deter any ill meaning gestures. All of my allies know that going against my declarations will have _severe _consequences." I let a wicked smirk play over my face at the thought. If anyone so much as thought about touching Daniel I would intensely enjoy causing them copious amounts of pain.

My answer seemed to satisfy the leader of the Far Frozen as he stood fully back up once again with an affirmative nod.

"Very well. If it as you said and you are in a hurry then let us collect the map so you may be off." With that Frostbite turned and made his way towards the same cave entrance that Daniel and I had entered last time to retrieve the map. Amorpho and I trailed silently behind the yeti as we made our way. Frostbite opened the familiar small purple chest and removed the scroll of paper. Turning towards us he started to spout, what I was beginning to understand was a routine lecture, about the dangers of travel with the map.

"As you both know the map can be very dangerous. As I must always, I will warn you about staying on the indicated path, and being wise in it's use." Without further hesitation Frostbite handed the map to Amorpho. Amorpho then sent a beaming smile up at Frostbite.

"Thanks Frostbite. I owe you one, really." He then turned to me with the map in his hands, a slight hesitance present as he offered a piece for me to grab. I moved closer to Amorpho to hide the slip and grabbed a section. I turned to give Frostbite a nod of confidence, which he replied with his own, before I announced clearly,

"Take us to Skulker's Island." With a jerk we were zipping off, the yeti people of the Far Frozen, and coincidentally any witnesses, now far behind.

* * *

We came to a halt just outside the perimeter of Skulker's territory. Immediately Amorpho let go of the map and started putting distance between him and myself; flying as fast as he could in a random direction. My eyebrows lowered in anger as he fled my wrath; immediately morphing back to his natural form in his flight. Surely he had not forgotten my warning about the futility of running as well?

Slowly and with deliberate movements I rolled the map into a tight tube and tucked it into a loop in my belt I had left vacant specifically for that purpose. I waited and watched for the right moment as Amorpho became smaller and smaller as he flew away. Precisely as he flew over a large section of floating rock, I teleported directly in his path.

I was in such close proximity that he had not time to stop or change his momentum. Brutally I grabbed his arms and pinned them to his sides. Using my significant weight against his, I abruptly changed his direction of flight and slammed him into the rock below, leaving a small crater. He attempted to phase out of my grasp only for my going intangible also to prevent his escape. I let a very large, malicious smile spread over my features, showing off my fangs as I watched Amorpho start to panic and wither in pain.

"Oh my dear Amorpho, you didn't think you would be able to escape me so easily would you?" Amorpho shook his head desperately.

"P-Please, you have to understand. It was necessary for the mission. I was trying, really! Nothing was working and it was all I could think of! It wouldn't have convinced him otherwise. You understand that, right? I had to say it for the plan!" I looked away for a moment, as if considering. I could feel Amorpho relax slightly at my charade. His false hope only encouraged my doings.

"Hm, yes I suppose. You do bring up a rather valid point. And really when faced with the choice of obeying my mundane orders or making sure my plans are a success you would really be wiser to make sure of my success wouldn't you?" Amorpho nodded eagerly. His neck strained as he angled his head to look up at me from his trapped position. His voice was hysteric with relief.

"E-Exactly! You do understand. I only wanted what was best for you!" I started to nod, as if lost in thought, and loosen my grip ever so slightly. Amorpho only became more relieved as I went on with my act.

"Yes I suppose…" I trailed off before I halted in my movements and feigned being struck with a thought. I took immense pleasure in watching panic start to wash over the shape shifters form once more. I turned my head slowly to look directly at the faceless ghost. "Though it does occur to me now, why couldn't you have done both? I'm really not seeing any reason for you to have been unable to accomplish that much at least? Really the initial failure was due to your inability to completely and explicitly follow my directions in the first place." The grey blob below me stuttered once more.

"I-I d-don't-" Without any warning I retightened my hold on the specter and sent waves of electricity coursing through the being. He was unable to scream due to the fact that the volts currently coursing through him cut off any control he might have had over his own body. I watched in fascination as his form reacted to the current being sent through it; spasmaticly trying to get away from itself without completely separating.

I was particularly reminded of a movie I watched in the hospital in the late 90's. _Flubber_, I think it was. Yes that movie had stuck with me because the so-called "flubber" had been eerily similar to raw ectoplasm. I decided that Amorpho's reaction was quite like that of "flubber's" reaction to bright flashes of light.

Satisfied and growing bored I stopped the torrent of energy and waited for him to regain some sense of coherency. His body still twitched as it fought between remaining solid and relaxing into some Jell-O like state. Eventually he met my gaze, tired and pleading. I knew then that he would understand the reprimand that I would deliver. My voice was menacing and low, suggesting that I could and would bestow a much harsher punishment should he ever cross me again.

"There is no excuse for idiocy with me. I gave you simple directions and you did not follow them. I don't know what sort of ideas are going around in that head of yours but disobeying me again will not be one of them. Do not think that because I hold compassion for Daniel, that that compassion extends to you or anyone else. I have not changed. You would do well to spread that around once you are capable of travel again." I leveled my gaze at the being in my hold as he only managed to nod to express his understanding. Satisfied he would not be able to get up or have the will to retaliate in any way I released my hold and stood regally over his form.

"Oh and Amorpho, if word of _any_ our activities this evening get anywhere near Daniel's ears, maintaining solidity will be the least of your worries. Am I clear?" I stood over his head as he gave me a shaky nod once more.

"Excellent. Well it was a pleasure doing business. Perhaps we could do it again some time?" I only gave the lump at my feet an amused grin as it whimpered and attempted to slide away before I continued. "I must be going then. Unfortunately I can't leave you conscious. I can't have you knowing where I'm going after this. Now can I?" At hearing my sentiments Amorpho started to panic once more. Obviously losing concentration over holding himself in a solid state, he started to hover again between liquid and solid as he attempted to crawl away. I rolled my eyes and prepared an ecto-blast in my hand as I moved closer.

"Well then, sweet dreams." With that I shot the blast directly into his temple. He immediately slumped to the ground before deflating and liquefying slightly. As if he were some sort of putty. I backed away slightly in disgust.

I idly jumped back into the air before I pulled out the map once again. Finally I would be getting some answers. The map was quickly unrolled and without hesitation I pronounced my destination.

"Take me to Clockwork."

* * *

I paid close attention to where I was going as I was pulled through he Ghost Zone at an alarming speed. I became confused and somewhat surprised as I realized that I was heading back towards my own portal. I suppose my portal was within territory that Daniel was familiar with. Really it wasn't that far fetched…

If only the map hadn't stopped _directly_ in front of my portal.

I had asked the map once more, for the same destination, supposing that this was a fluke of some kind. Maybe there was some hidden portal or door nearby that I was missing.

The map only gave a weak tug towards the portal I was already standing in front of.

I rephrased and re-worded my request numerous times. Thinking that I only needed to be more specific. "Take me to the Master of Time, Take me to Father Time, Take me to Chronos, Take me to _him_". I felt like an increasingly thick idiot, as I was led in circles around my own portal.

None of it worked.

Now frustrated and suspecting that, despite all odds, the map was somehow damaged, I did a control test, giving it a standard command. "Take me to Technus' lair." With vigor the piece of paper took off in the direction of Technus' door. I came to a halt in front of a very heavily lit wooden door that beeped every so often.

I glared daggers at the piece of paper in my hand. The infernal thing had to be messing with me somehow. Clearly it still had some qualms about taking direction from me.

Snicker Doodles! I had been positive this would work. There was no way for my plan to fail. It simply couldn't, there had to be something in the way. Something I wasn't getting. With a frustrated sigh I flew to an abandon floating rock and sat to contemplate the problem.

I must have lost track of time, for hours had gone by before I was startled out of my train of thought by an alarm that went off on the modified phone I had been carrying around. I pulled out the phone and saw that it said it was 4:30 am. I quickly shut the irritating thing off before slightly pondering how that alarm had been set in the first place. It's not as if I had been stupid enough to set it. I had intended to be on a stealth mission at this point, and having an alarm go off at random times was not an advantage in that situation. I brushed the occurrence off. Technology these days. Sometimes I honestly just never knew.

I picked myself up off the rock I had been lounging on and headed back to my portal. With a quick, "Take yourself home", I sent the map back to the Far Frozen so it would not be missed. I suppose it had been fortunate however that the alarm had gone off. I would have probably sat there contemplating my dilemma for a few more hours before I snapped myself out of my daze, and by then I would have missed breakfast with Daniel. It was a world of small favors.

* * *

** Third Person POV**

Somewhere, buried deep beneath an ocean of infinite ticking, there was a mild chuckle. The Master of Time watched and waited as the current subject of his amusement was forced to give up his chase and resume it some other time. He knew that the man would have sat for hours more had he not reminded him of his newly acquired charge, and that he would be awaiting his company in sixty eight minutes and twenty three seconds time. He mused to himself, mostly because when Daniel was not around, he had no one else to muse to.

_Oh my dear Vladimir. But what you need to answer your questions was with you all along._

With a thought an image was displayed on the viewing portal in front of the Time Ghost. Specifically that of the conclusion of Daniel's first encounter with the Infi-Map.

"_The map works in strange ways. Sometimes it takes us where it thinks we _need_ to go, instead of where we _want it_ to go."_


	40. Chapter 40: Three Strikes

AN:/ Alright, here we go. Finally a decent sized chapter. Personally I think it's okay. I think it could be better, but I don't know if i've just been staring at it for too long or not. I wish it was more intense I guess, but I don't know how to get it to that level without making more violent. And i don't want it to be more violent becuase I want to save the moments of really epic violence for later in the story. But anyway. I know not everything in this chapter is 100% acruarate, but your going to roll with it anyway, because to make this stuff accurate I would have to do way more research than I am comfortable investing in this story at the moment, so yeah. As you read though i just want you to keep in mind that nothing is set in stone. alright, happy reading.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 40: Three Strikes

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, November 19, 2011, 8:32PM_

* * *

**IMPORTANT: **So for you to understand what is going in on in later scenes you are going to need to know a few things about fencing suits. Or at least what my understanding of fencing suits is. Okay so this is how a fencing suit works. what makes up a fencing suit is bassicly a ton of little wire sensors. The whole thing is just covered in them. So when you are fencing and your openants sword makes contact a current that is running through those sensors, is completed and a signal is sent to a buzzer located nearby, indicating that contact has been made. The suit that Danny wears is completely covered in these sensors, chest arms legs hands and face. though my understanding is that in real life the area covered is significantly smaller, but that's a technicallity I am ignoring. Remember this, it is crucial for later.

* * *

**Danny's POV**

I was worried about how today was going to turn out. You see yesterday had been a really good day, despite it having been a Monday. I hadn't had any problems whatsoever. None of the girls had tried to hit on me because they were all too embarrassed about the flirting their mom's had made them do at the Ball. The guys were slightly cowed for the same reasons, their fathers having paraded them around like trophies. Everyone in general was just quite and reserved, so as a result I had had a completely awesome day. Nobody had bugged me for any reason and I got to walk around like I owned the place, because Vlad was the host of the event that caused all of their distress, and I was his heir. It had been so great. Nobody catcalled at me, or bumped into my shoulder on purpose, or tried to suck up to me, it was just plain awesome.

And that was exactly what had me so worked up about today.

Fate loves to mess with me so much that whenever I've have a good day, like I had yesterday, it is immediately followed by an increasingly sucky day. Just as a reminder, you know, that the universe hates me. Because heaven forbid I be on the receiving end of any good fortune without paying the price for it.

So yeah, I was worried. Vlad hadn't said anything about my anxiety this morning, but he wasn't exactly the most alert. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. I asked if there was something wrong and he just said that it was nothing in particular, just one of those nights where you can't seem to get to sleep. I totally knew what he meant so I nodded in sympathy and tried not to be too much of a hassle. He was the owner of all his companies; maybe he would take a nap at work or something. It's not like there was anyone to yell at him for it. Though I doubted he would. That would just be so _not _Vlad.

Once I got in the limo though, I think Clinton noticed that I was on edge because he immediately started to try to talk me out of my anxiety. Eager for the distraction I participated in the conversation and told him why I was so upset. He mostly just wiggled his mustache in that way he does when he's trying to cover up a smile. I rolled my eyes and told him all about the bad days that I had had immediately following good days. By the time we were almost to school he still wasn't convinced and said I was overreacting. He tried to give me some advice about it like, "It is what you make it", and "Only _you_ can make you have a good day." Stuff like that.

Having said my friendlier goodbyes in the limo where none could see, I gave Clinton a curt nod as a signal to go. He gave me one of his own before he was off. I strode purposefully towards the school, not looking back as the limo pulled away. It was getting colder, though the only reason I noticed was because there was frost on the lawn that surrounded the school this morning. One of the perks of ice powers, I don't start to feel the cold until it's bellow -43F, or I haven't used my ice powers in over a month.

As a result of the temperature no one was outside. I was slightly grateful because it gave me a moment to make sure that I had my posture right and that I had my game face on. I knew I was going to need it today. It wasn't a matter of if; it was a matter of when.

Because there had been no one outside, the people who usually hung out there were now taking up space inside; so the early crowd was a little bit bigger than usual as I made my way to my table in the lounge. Yes, the same table I had stolen from Bill. I still had it because I sat there the following day, and no one had contested me over it. So it was mine. And every morning I went into the lounge to do the math homework I hadn't done the night before because I hadn't felt like it. Every morning I was one of the first people to arrive, and I got to watch with some amusement as the tables and chairs filled up according to which one was furthest from mine.

So when two minutes later a group came in and sat down in a table that was relatively close to mine I became suspicious. I tried to ignore them for the moment. I mean, come on. I'm not so petty that I get upset because someone decided to sit near me. As time went on though I only got more and more anxious. I couldn't help but hear the suppressed snickers every once in a while. What the heck had them so amused? It hadn't taken long for me to figure out that anything that got the people at this school to laugh was bad news. I decided to try to listen to what they were talking about. They were definitely acting strangely and I wanted to know why. I concentrated on my ghost hearing so I could eavesdrop on the conversation two tables away without being noticed. Their conversation came into focus as I deciphered what the hushed discussion was about.

"…say he doesn't. You heard it straight from Emma didn't you?" The voice that had just spoken was obviously male and trying to persuade its fellows of his opinion.

"I'm just a little hesitant to believe it. You know Emma, she's easily conned into things and it's very possible Bill put her up to this." This voice was obviously female and slightly exasperated at the others persistence. My interest was officially peeked as Emma and Bill were mentioned. This didn't sound good. Had Bill made Emma do something she didn't want to? If he did, he was in for it. When I offered my protection to Emma I had been telling the truth. I made sure I looked like I was still paying attention to my math homework as I focused more on the conversation behind me.

"Yeah, but Bill's not completely stupid. He doesn't start rumors that aren't at least part way true. Besides, you are only in denial because you think he's cute just like every other girl in the school." There was some shuffling around in indignation before the girl responded a second later.

"I do not 'think he's cute'. He is just a gentleman that's all, unlike _some_ people. Besides, 'ghosts', really it's a little far fetched, don't you think?" I momentarily froze at the speculation. What did she mean by 'ghosts'? People here weren't supposed to believe ghosts existed. Besides the fact that it was Halloween last Saturday the subject shouldn't have come up. Suddenly my eavesdropping gained a new sense of urgency. Why were these people talking about ghosts, and what did this have to do with Bill and Emma? My question was answered for me by a new feminine voice.

"It's really not that outrageous. I was dancing nearby when he said that he believed in ghosts. I think he had said something in sarcasm that blew over Emma's head and he ended up saying that he believed in ghosts. I forgot about it until Emma brought it up again yesterday after school. She was honestly exaggerating the situation a little. Really it didn't sound _that_ crazy when he said it." My mind slowly dredged meaning from what the girl had just said. Whatever happened had happened at the Ball. Whoever was involved was talking about ghosts, whether sarcastically or not, and was dancing with Emma. Whoever this guy was had told Emma that he believed in ghosts. It wasn't very hard to put together really, I just didn't want to believe it. I had danced with Emma. I had spoken sarcastically about ghosts with her. I had also told her that I believed they existed. The guy they were talking about, had to be me. They had found out from Emma that I believed in ghosts, and were now gossiping about her claim. A male voice spoke up again laden with sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, the guy believes in ghosts but he's not _that_ crazy. He's only a _little bit_ crazy. You know, not anything to worry about." My focus on their conversation faded as they all snickered at the guy's sarcasm. Pieces of the puzzle before me fell into place as I figured out what the heck was going on.

Emma, and most likely Bill, were spreading around that I believed in ghosts. Emma didn't have the mind to take information from a conversation like that and use it against others. Bill did however. So somehow, someway, Bill had asked for the information, and Emma had given it to him. Knowing that me and Bill were rivals, knowing that he would likely use the information against me. Emma had given Bill a weapon after I had offered her protection. Emma had directly and deliberately betrayed my trust by giving information to a known enemy.

Anger welled up inside my chest. How could she? Why would she do something like this? I had offered to be her protector, her friend, and she had immediately taken that request and stabbed me in the back with it. I had thought she was a good person, not that she would spread rumors about me the first chance she got! I thought she wouldn't be like everyone else in my life and screw stuff up for me. Obviously I had been wrong to think that I could put my faith in anybody anymore. You think I would have learned my lesson with Sam, Tucker, Jack and Maddie but no. I had to be a stubborn little mule and stick to my beliefs that there were people out there who deserved my respect out of hand.

When was I going to learn not to trust people? When? I was so stupid. I had thought that Emma would show discretion and keep the information to herself, or at least not use it against me. Obviously I still believed too much in the good of people. And now because I had decided to let my guard fall, just a little bit, with _one person _I was going to have to deal with the repercussions of what she had found out and told the rest of the school.

God dam it! I was so sick of being betrayed like this. Screw Emma for being all innocent and making me feel like I could trust her. Screw Bill for taking the information and using it against me. Screw the freaking universe for always fucking with my life when it starts to look up!

I focused on taking deep breaths and calming myself before I got so worked up my eyes started glowing. I could figure out how angry to get later. I had more immediate problems on my hands. The fact was that I had been betrayed _again_. I had foolishly put my trust in someone, and I had paid the price for it. That price was having my name connected with ghosts. I knew very well what this information was going to do to my image once it got out, and it was not going to be pretty. It was the same every time. Being the son of ghost hunters made me overly familiar with this situation.

This information, once it got around, was going to shoot me to the bottom of the hierarchy that operated at this school. First would be the whispers and the speculation, which had already started. People would question what they were told at first, being slightly skeptical. 'Ghosts', they would say 'Who would believe that?' Then the jeering would start, as people became more confident that I did believe in ghosts. They would start testing the limits, they would want to see how much I would admit to and how riled up they could get me before I lost it and told the truth. After they got bored with simply setting me off, the pranks would start. People would move my things while I wasn't looking, throw things at me and pretend that 'ghosts had done it'.

It was a very predictable process, the question was, what was I going to do about it? I couldn't go around confirming that I believed in ghosts like a lunatic, because that is what I would be seen as here. This was just like before Amity knew that ghosts existed. I'd be seen as completely bonkers for believing that something like that could possibly exist. Heck around here, being too devoted to a _religion_ was seen as sketchy at times. There was no way I was getting away with believing in ghosts without being seen as anything less than a few marbles short.

I could try to deny it, but by what I had overheard that really wasn't an option. There had been multiple witnesses to my 'confession' at the Ball. Any denial I would make wouldn't stand up in the log run. There were just too many people who 'knew' for it to last. And with my short temper, plus the way Bill just tended to get on my nerves, it wouldn't be long before I was shouting things out without thinking anyway.

That left ignoring it.

I had never tried the 'ignoring it' option before. Honestly, it was impossible when your parent's repeatedly burst into your third grade class because they thought that there was a ghost attacking. I had never had the possibility to ignore the accusations before with evidence of my parent's insanity always being in my face. It was a possibility here though. I was already high enough up on the social ladder that if I ignored everything, I wouldn't fall too far down. Adults were always saying that the best course of action for stopping teasing was to ignore it, right? People tease other people for the reaction that it causes. If I just didn't react, then the whole thing would die down. I knew it was too much to hope that it would go away completely, but I could make sure that it didn't cause too much of a stir. It wasn't the most assertive of plans and it definitely would set me back in establishing myself as someone who was untouchable, but it was the safest course of action with the least repercussions at the moment, and that was what I had to work with. I can't believe I had been so stupid in the first place anyway.

I could feel the tension coil in my chest again. This was the _last_ time I ever implicitly trusted anyone with anything. I still couldn't believe Emma Conant, of all people, had been the cause of all this. She was the only one who would have the connections to Bill and enough knowledge of what I had said to get the information out as fast as it had.

She was going to get what was coming to her for betraying me like this. The least she was going to do was explain herself; we'd see where she stood after I had heard her side of the story. Bill didn't have to explain himself. His part in this was self explanatory, so he'd be getting his due either way.

I repressed a growl again as I thought of the rich little bastard and Emma before I sighed. My anger was getting me nothing but strange looks at the moment. All I could do now was go through with my 'ignore it' plan, until I could meet with Emma or figure a way to torment Bill.

I tried to put my previous anger aside and continue doing my math. By now the rest of the tables had filled up and I couldn't help but notice that there was more laughter than normal. I just had to ignore it though. It was just a normal day and nothing was going to happen.

My attention was ripped away from my math as someone made a loud WooOoo-ing sound at another table before collapsing into giggles. There was a muffled 'snap' as my pencil broke in half, due to my angry, clenched fist. Sighing, I opened my hand to let the two pieces of wood fall to the table. Nope, nothing was wrong. It was just a regular day.

* * *

"Boo!" There was a noticeable flinch in my step as someone shouted across the hallway. Those who heard the exclamation and saw my reaction, laughed. I continued my way down the hall. I repeated my new mantra over in my head to shut out the laughter and quell the explosive anger that was simmering in my chest. _Normal day, normal day, it was just a normal day. _

The flinch was an improvement really. It had only taken until second period for people to connect my now highly publicized 'punching of Jason' to my supposed 'fear' of ghosts. Yes, based on my overreaction and Jason's unfortunate choice of words, it was now clear to everyone that I was _terrified_ of ghosts. The first person today to have gotten a reaction out of me with the "boo" comment had been smart enough to shout it from outside my reach, so he remained unharmed. However I had been unprepared enough that I had dropped my briefcase and spun around quickly towards the source. Of course this had happened in a hallway where everyone had seen and decided that I needed to have the word "boo," shouted at me constantly. Because startling the unshakable Dan Masters was so hilarious.

It wasn't the word that made me flinch; it was the random times it was shouted that did it. I was still really jumpy about this kind of thing. Most sudden loud noises had me jumping, just because it was an instinct by now. I was getting better, but I still wasn't great. It was taking all of my concentration not to do more than just flinch as random shouts of "boo" mocked me on my way to lunch.

I was steaming on the inside. Emma had better have a good excuse for spreading this around. It had better be a damn good excuse too. I involuntarily flinched again as I was shouted at once more. This flinching this… _weakness _I was showing, was doing murder on my image. It was hard to be seen as tough when you go around jumping constantly in what others saw as fear. I was ready to blow my top as giggles started up around me again. This was not happening. I had not worked this hard to establish an image for myself only to have it shattered by _ghosts _of all things.

I thought briefly of how Sam might say that worrying this much about my "image" was shallow. The thought only made my anger flare. Yet another example of a person who I had thought I could trust. Shows how much she knew any way. You know what else is shallow? _Hiding a relationship with your best friend from your other best friend._

There was another short yell. I jumped this time. I hadn't been focusing on restraining myself so the bigger reflex had gotten the better of me. My heart settled again and anger I was barely able to restrain, flared when confident laughter rang through the hall. I flexed my free hand, cracking my knuckles to relieve some of the tension I had built up.

I was not going to be the butt of everyone's teasing again. This couldn't happen. I wouldn't let it happen. I was going to figure out a way to make this all stop. I had had a taste of what it was like to be normal. To be respected instead of a laughing stock. And I was not letting anyone take that respect away. Especially after all I had done to deserve it.

I had saved so many innocent people; I had been the nice guy for so long, I had knowingly let people take advantage of me; all in the name of doing the 'right thing'. I was so sick of doing things for other people; just letting them get the better of me because that was what was expected. All I got for my trouble was more laughter and scorn. I was done being the nice guy. I was only going to worry about myself now. I had left the heroic, shy, selfless Danny Fenton in Amity to die with my broken family and my fake friends. I wasn't that guy anymore. I was Daniel Masters now. I was the heir to Vladimir Masters and I was going to let myself act like it.

I briskly approached the waiters' podium to be seated for lunch as I finally arrived at the cafeteria. The anger I was feeling must have been present on my face because the host who was on duty recoiled slightly when he looked up to ask for my name. I didn't wait for him to open his mouth before I bit it out.

"Daniel Masters." The host nodded briefly looking through his papers to check my name off as he responded.

"O-of course. Will you-"

"I will be dinning alone. Unless Emma Conant has already been seated. When she arrives I would request her audience in my dining room. If she is already here please let her know that I would like to see her before the lunch hour is up." Without waiting to be escorted I took off in long strides towards my dining room. Like the first day I was here I could feel the stares on my back and hear the whispers pick up in my wake. I opened the door with more force than I should have been capable of and snapped it shut, making sure not to break the door in the process. Without pause I glided over to my usual end of the table. Foregoing any sort of hello, I made my order to Gloria who was waiting inside. I wasn't exactly in the mood to putz around.

"Lasagna and side salad with a coke Gloria, if you would be so kind. And we will be expecting company." I didn't look up at Gloria as she floundered at my unusually cold manner. After a moment she got herself together and replied in a robotic manner.

"Yes Mr. Masters. Would you prefer me to wait for your company or would you like me to fetch your order right away?" I sighed heavily as I heard the submissive and uncertain tone in Gloria's voice; not sure of what to do with me while I was so angry. I suppose I shouldn't have been so short with her. It wasn't her I was mad at anyway. I looked up with an apologetic, but strained grin.

"Your promptness in delivering my order would be appreciated, thank you." Realizing now that I was not specifically upset with her, Gloria gave me a sympathetic smile before she spoke in a consoling voice.

"Of course Mr. Masters." She then turned towards the door to be back in a minute or two with my drink while they got my lunch ready.

As the door clicked shut I rested my head on my hands as I let out a huge breath and relaxed the muscles in my shoulders. This really sucked. What the hell was I going to do? I was a laughing stock, how was I going to bounce back from this? Why does all of the really bad stuff have to happen to me? I mean seriously, it's not like anything just halfway horrible ever happens. It always has to be a full out tragedy. I don't know how much longer I'm as going to keep up with all the shit fate keeps flinging at me. Though I guess things had really gotten better now that I lived with Vlad. I hadn't been in any sort of _life threatening_ danger since I was in his care and that is a huge improvement. I ran my fingers through my hair as my head sank to my chest. Not really having the energy to be angry like I was before I settled for sufficiently frustrated as I waited for someone to come back into the room.

The door clicked open as Gloria pushed it with her hip, a glass of coke in her hand. She smiled sadly at me before she spoke.

"Mr. Masters, your company is here." Without waiting for an invitation Emma Conant walked into the room through the open door. I merely stared at her, not bothering to stand upon her entry like I did the last time I had had 'guests'. I didn't want her to be under the pretense that I was happy with her. I lowered my eyebrows in suspicion. Oh she definitely knew what she had done. She was obviously nervous with the way that she couldn't hold my gaze. She knew why she was here. The fact only made me more annoyed with her. I gestured with my hand briefly as I glanced at the empty chairs around the table.

"Sit." At my rough command Emma hurried to comply. She hustled to arrange herself in a chair that was close enough that she could talk comfortably with me, but far enough away that she didn't have to sit directly next to me. Gloria followed behind her slightly, and gave me a reprimanding look when she put my drink in front of me. I gave her a blank look in return. This was my business and she was not my keeper. Gloria turned towards Emma.

"What would you like for lunch today sweetie?" Emma blushed again and responded barely above a whisper.

"I'll have a turkey sandwich on wheat with a water please." Gloria nodded sending another look that clearly said, 'be nice' at me as she moved towards the door. I lightly glared at her, hoping to get the message of 'back off' across this time. The look caused her to quickly turn and hustle out the door, once again not knowing how to deal with me when I was angry.

There was silence after Gloria closed the door and left the two of us alone. I bored holes into the top of Emma's head with my stare. She only looked at the opposite end of the room or her lap, never facing me. She watched some leaves blow by the window outside. After a solid three minutes she was squirming in her seat, obviously uncomfortable with my stare. Getting tired of waiting for her to start her spiel, I said one word.

"Explain." After I spoke she finally dredged up the courage to look at me. She looked scared and worried. I was slightly surprised when I didn't feel guilty or sorry in response to her clear emotions of distress. Though why should I? She had betrayed me hadn't she? Even if I did feel bad for making her upset she deserved it and was a fool if she thought I was going to be all goodie goodie with her after what she did. Emma hesitantly started to speak.

"I-I'm sorry." She went silent. I just kept staring at her, waiting for her to continue. 'I'm sorry' was not an explanation and I wasn't going to take it as one. She squirmed again under my harsh gaze as I waited for her to get the picture and keep talking. My patience was rewarded.

"It was all I could do. I had to tell. I was just trying to do the right thing. They were going to hurt Jason. You know, Jason Laurie. They remembered how you said not to hurt him and they thought that he must have known something, for you to be protecting him like that. They were going to tear Jason to shreds and I just couldn't let that happen. He's already got a rocky home life it would demolish him. So I offered up information on you, so they wouldn't have to target Jason anymore. I thought that you could handle yourself, where Jason couldn't. But then they decided to do both; spread rumors about you and Jason and I couldn't do anything about it. I was just trying to protect Jason like you said you would protect me. I just couldn't let them hurt Jason when I could do something to stop it. You would want that right? I did the right thing?" At that moment Gloria came in with our food and Emma's drink. A heavy silence weighed down on everyone as Gloria walked towards us and set our food in front of us. Still cowed by my glare at her earlier, Gloria said nothing as she set the plates down and made a hasty retreat, leaving us back to our 'conversation'. After Gloria left I settled for watching Emma again. She didn't dare to start on her sandwich, so She went back to sending fleeting glances around the room. Wordlessly I started in on my lasagna. Even after I had taken a few bites, indirectly signaling her to eat as well, Emma still hadn't started eating. Slightly annoyed by her lack of willingness to do anything without some sort of 'say-so', I rectified the situation.

"Eat." Once more she went to quickly obey my demands, like she was a trained dog that would answer to one word commands. I wrinkled my nose slightly in disgust at the unquestioning obedience before I took another bite of my lasagna. I needed to think about what Emma had said before I made any decisions. I stared at my meal.

Well at least I know where the sudden rumors about Jason being gay were coming from. I would have to punish Bill for that too. I had told him not to hurt Jason. I couldn't just not follow through on my threats. I had already set a punishment for this anyway. It required revealing more things about myself than I would like, but it was worth the sacrifice to keep Bill in his place. It was unfortunate that I hadn't realized Emma would need some limits and consequences to keep her quite as well.

She thought she was doing the right thing? Was she deranged? Did she not hear how I had offered the same protection to Jason that I had offered to her? Wasn't that why she said they had been going after Jason in the first place? What exactly was she accomplishing by revealing my secrets?

And yet Emma still told Bill my secrets, for whatever reason. Did she just not think? Was she that naive? More importantly, what did she deserve for her slip. She definitely wasn't going to get off scot-free for this. All I heard in her excuse was stupidity. The exact same stupidity that I had believed in back in Amity. I couldn't afford to trust people who thought like this, especially because they went around mindlessly doing stupid shit, like telling the enemy your secrets. I would know, I had done enough of this crap myself to judge.

I put my fork down; the other half of my lasagna just did not look appetizing anymore. Had I really been that stupid when I was in Amity? Yes, yes I had been that stupid. It was only now that I was watching someone else act like I did that I realized how idiotic I was being. Trading secrets to 'save the innocent', thinking that the safety of everyone depended on me. That was what I had done wasn't it? That was exactly what Emma was doing.

I sighed. I couldn't really fault her for this. She had only been caught up in the same bullshit I had been caught up in until I moved in with Vlad. I couldn't exactly forgive her and continue to let her get close to me either. I knew how she operated and I did not want someone like that close to me again, only to betray me…exactly like she already had. I couldn't be friends with her, but I didn't exactly want to be enemies with her either. That left me with the option of just not being anything to her. It could be just like we never said more than 'hi' to each other in the hallway. Yeah, that would be the best course of action. Cutting ties would probably upset her but she would get over it. It wasn't like I had even been her 'friend' for that long. She couldn't be that upset could she? I mean I was going to do what was best for me regardless, I had already decided that, but I still didn't want to upset her. Hopefully she wouldn't take this too hard. But it wasn't exactly like I could do anything about it, was it? I couldn't let other people's feelings control what I did anymore anyway. I was worrying about me and my wellbeing and this was the best way to make sure that I stayed 'well'. I hardened my eyes in resignation.

I looked over to Emma to see that she had finished her sandwich and was now just staring at the plate. I looked at her with emotionless eyes as I spoke.

"Miss Conant, you are excused." Her head snapped up to meet my gaze. She stuttered to life, confused.

"B-but Dan. I can't-"

"Miss Conant," I intensified my gaze as I put an emphasis on her last name, willing her to understand, "I believe you were dismissed." Her mouth clicked shut and she wouldn't meet my gaze again as she gathered her things and walked out the door. It closed behind her with a subtle click.

I shoved my plate away and let my head fall to the table with a loud clatter as all the ceramics on the table were jostled. God damit I hope she doesn't cry. I may not necessarily trust her or want to be close to her, but she's just innocent enough that she would cry, and I would have no choice but to feel guilty if she started crying. And I really could not afford to feel guilty about my decision now. I just _knew_ she wouldn't understand that I didn't think she was a bad person. Yes I was mad at her for what she did, but I didn't hate her. I still would protect her too, if she needed it. I just didn't want it to be more than a strictly professional relationship.

I brought my arms up to cradle my head as I thought about the dilemma I was in. I needed to show Emma I would keep my word without confronting her. That left confronting who was causing her trouble. I still had fencing class today with Bill. It had taken a while for me to gather exactly who was in my fencing class due to all the wire masks, but I had done it eventually. Imagine my surprise when I saw Bill with his mask off after class one day_. _An evil smirk came over my face as the solution hit me. Bill was already going to pay for going against me, as far as Jason was concerned. It would be simple enough to add a few more terms to the list for my plan to work.

So it was settled. I would ignore the 'ghost rumors' while they blew over and I would make sure Bill knew not to mess with me again. It might take a few weeks for all the rumors about me to blow over, but I had done worse damage control as Phantom. It would take time, but it would all go back to the way it was with a little push in the right direction. I let myself relax a little in the comfort of finally having a plan to follow. This was going to work.

I glanced to my watch and saw that Lunch was a few minutes from being over. I grabbed my brief case and stood; making sure everything was in the correct place before I went out the door.

* * *

I jumped and bit my tongue as someone banged loudly on the door to my changing stall. I heard an obvious laugh and a high-five as the perpetrators walked away. I growled slightly as I turned invisible and stuck my head through the door to see who it was.

Bill, the coward. He _would_ only go after me when I couldn't see who was attacking me. I zipped up the front of my fencing suit thing; I refused to call it a leotard, and grabbed my wire mask. I unlocked the stall I was in and headed the same direction as Bill and his cronies. The sound of a few dull 'clinks' could be heard through the door as people warmed up before class. I opened the heavy metal door and the sounds became clear. The room was like it was every day. There were about twelve long mats for basic fencing and a large square matt at the far end of the room used for faster more advanced duels. As usual I was almost the last one out, everyone already had a partner and I would get stuck with whoever nobody else wanted to partner with that day.

This wouldn't be how things would be going today however. Like every other class, this class had a syllabus. I have, unlike a lot of other people, read that syllabus. On this syllabus there is a section about extra credit. To earn extra credit, you can do a number of things, including challenging a classmate to a number of types of duels that were listed on said syllabus. I had gone to Mr. Aaron before class and told him that I wanted to do. He had approved with a smile. Everyone in the class thought I was still the worst at fencing. Mr. Aaron, who was still teaching me the rules on the side sometimes, knew better. He knew that I was really a skilled fighter, and that the only reason others saw me as clumsy was because I still had trouble following all the damn regulations. That wouldn't be a problem today however.

I looked to Mr. Aaron, on the other side of the room, and he gave me a 'go ahead' nod. I gave him one of recognition in return before I walked over to where Bill was palling around with some other guys. In the beginning it had been hard to tell who was who under the mask, but eventually you just knew. Whether it was by their voice, or what shoes they were wearing. One of Bill's buddies nudged him in the shoulder as he saw that I was coming over. Bill turned to face me and took off his mask. Mine was already off as I approached. The room got quite as I got within three feet of Bill and stopped. I couldn't help noticing that instead of being level with his collar bone, like I was when I had confronted him the first time, I was now level with his neck. I smirked as I looked Bill straight in the face.

"I, Daniel James Masters, challenge you, William Ford, to a one on one termed freestyle duel." There was a beat of silence before the guys around us broke into restrained laughter, which I ignored. They wouldn't be giggling soon. Bill snorted to himself and looked around for Mr. Aaron; obviously planning on seeing if I was 'for real'. Bill found Mr. Aaron and became slightly disappointed that he only gave a hasty wave, gesturing Bill to get a move on and respond. Bill grumbled under his breath for a moment, his lip barely moving before he looked from the guys around us back to me with an uninterested grimace.

"Fine, I'll humor you. What are your terms?" I held down a growl at Bill's filanpit behavior. The arrogant ass was going to learn to keep this attitude under control one way or another. I never took my eyes off of Bill as I spoke.

"If I win you will admit to everyone that the rumors you started about Jason Laurie's sexual orientation are nothing but speculation that was blown out of proportion. You will also cease your harassment of Emma Conant." I paused to allow the whispering that had started up around us to quiet. I needed everyone to know what these _terms_ were. When they were whispering they couldn't pay attention to what I would say next so I waited. After only a few moments it was silent once again. "And if you win I will publicly confirm the rumors that I believe in ghosts, whether I actually believe in them or not." At my proposal Bill let out a chuckle and his eyebrow rose in a very awkward manner.

"Going to dig your own grave and lie in it too? You've just about gone and done all the work for me Masters. I accept your 'challenge'." There was light chuckling again as the guys around us shifted in anticipation of what was about to happen. I sneered lightly at Bill's over confidence. The arrogant prick would get what was coming to him. I turned around and started to walk towards the larger mat at the end of the room; holding back several sharp comments in response to Bill's overconfidence. I called out to Mr. Aaron who was already headed the same direction as me.

"Mr. Aaron, William Ford has accepted my challenge, would you be so kind as to referee for the match?" Mr. Aaron didn't hold back a snort at my overly formal manner. Having witnessed me being frustrated before, he knew just how much of an act I was putting on. I didn't overly mind him knowing though. It wasn't as if the information he had would do any damage anyway, as speculations about my demeanor had been made already.

"Why are you headed towards the advanced mat Masters?" I ignored Bill who had started speaking behind me in poorly disguised confusion. "You can't seriously be considering challenging me to an advance duel can you? I know your out for your own destruction and what not but you can't seriously be planning to humiliate yourself _that_ thoroughly." I was saved the burden of replying to Bill's stupid question by Mr. Aaron, who had heard Bill and wasn't happy with his lack of sportsmanship.

"Bill, I believe Dan stated he was challenging you to a 'freestyle' duel. It's not a real type of duel, but it's one I put on the syllabus. The duel is meant to sharpen your strategic thinking and force you to utilize all of your resources; it's meant to simulate a real fight as closely as possible basically. In this kind of duel there are only a few rules to follow; naturally you would require more space. So if you still accept you will be using the larger matt." There was laughter behind me again, heaven knows why. I don't know what they found funny. The laughter quickly died down and scuffling picked up in its wake as everyone made their way over to the large mat to watch. I made it to the mat first and selected my corner to start out in. I turned to see Bill had followed me and selected the corner opposite of mine. The rest of the class had gathered around the edges of the matt to watch. I couldn't help but notice that they all congregated around Bills corner of the mat. The fact only made me roll my eyes. Sucker fish, every single one of them.

I could practically smell the arrogance rolling off of Bill in waves. He casually swung his sword around as he got into position, putting on a show. A mix between a smirk and a sneer crept onto my face. Oh the class today would definitely be getting a show, I would make sure of it. No I don't think that Bill would be messing with me any time soon after this. I tried to shut down my emotions and get into the right mindset as I prepared for 'battle'. I wasn't worried about overreacting. For one I had been getting a lot better at containing myself specifically in the dueling room. I had come to realize that I really wasn't in any real danger, at least in _here_. This duel was also, in my head anyway, going to be exactly like fighting with Valarie. I needed to win, but without causing any real damage. It was all just for show and to keep Bill under control. This was the type of fight that was going to give my sarcasm a work out more than anything else. Mr. Aaron walked to the center of the mat to state the rules and make sure that everyone understood.

"Alright, this is a freestyle duel; as such _any_ method or fighting style may be used to land a hit. This is not a contact sport so no body-to-body contact should be made. A buzzer will sound if this occurres and a point will go to the defending party. The amount of time spent in defense or offense is of no concern. No hit zones include the neck, hands and head. You forfeit the match if you leave the perimeter of the mat at any point. The winner will be determined by the first duelist to land three registered hits. A buzzer will sound when you or your opponent has made contact. When the buzzer sounds you are to freeze in your current position so that I may validate the hit before you will return to your starting positions in the far corners of the matt. Any questions?" Mr. Aaron looked to me and I shook my head. He gave me a nod before he turned to Bill who also shook his head. Mr. Aaron continued as we pulled on our wire masks. "Very good then when I sound the whistle you may begin." I sunk into a fight ready stance as Mr. Aaron lightly jogged to the side of the matt. Bill also settled himself into a ready position. I breathed as I centered myself and went over the plan again in my head.

There was a short trill and the fighting started.

Bill didn't hesitate and started to quickly advance, obviously prepping to dramatically land a hit on my chest in a slashing motion. Bill hadn't taken two steps before I had stopped his advance dead in its tracks. I threw my sword at the ground before Bill's feet with a satisfying SMACK. The sword bounced wildly once with the force I had used to send it at Bill, before settling. Bill violently recoiled with a girlish yelp when he saw that there was a piece of metal coming at him at high speed. Falling out of his fighting stance in an effort to get away from the sword, he tripped over himself slightly. I smirked and stood up, appearing casual while still keeping my weight centered. The rest of the class had broken out into short laughter at Bill's display. Bill stuttered to life, trying and failing to sound confidant as he tried to cover up his confusion.

"What the hell! You can't do that Masters." I rolled my eyes and casually started to stroll towards the center of the mat as Mr. Aaron impatiently responded.

"Yes he can. This is Freestyle Mr. Ford. You can do anything I haven't strictly forbidden in the rules. Now the round isn't over so stay focused!" I stood in the middle of the mat, my hands clasped behind my back as I waited for Bill to get himself together. I didn't make any move to get my sword back. Bill re-gripped his sword in confusion and shifted his weight between his feet. Finally he seemed to realize that my sword was right in front of him. Quickly, 'before I could get to it', Bill swiped the weapon away with his foot, propelling it so that it came to a stop only when it fell off the mat with a short scarping noise. I had to resist laughing, as Bill once again looked smug.

"Not so smart now Masters, are you? How are you going to land a hit on me without a sword? You could just give up now and I would spare you the humiliation." I looked around for a moment, still appearing casual and unprepared, as if I were considering what he had to say.

"Yes that was rather foolish of me. But really it would be unsporting of me to concede. You see if you were listening to Mr. Aaron, you would have heard that we return to our starting positions after someone has scored a hit. I will be getting my sword back as soon as a hit is landed, as my sword was included in the starting position." Bill looked to Mr. Aaron to confirm what I had said. I raised my eyebrow under my mask. He seemed to deflate when Mr. Aaron only nodded in agreement. I brought his attention back to me. "Really, it's up to you how long we stand here before that next round starts." Bill grumbled a muttered 'fine' before he started to walk forward. Not sashay or shuffle, as if he were expecting a fight, but flat out walk. His sword swung by his side as he took impatient strides towards me. Clearly thinking that I was going to just take the hit. He came to a stop in the middle of the mat where I was standing and started to move his sword as if he were going to lightly tap me on the shoulder.

I waited for the exact moment when the sword was about to come in contact with me before I started to move. I ducked swiftly under the tip, causing it to continue in its lazy arc instead of bounce off of me. Before Bill even had time to widen his eyes I had maneuvered so that I was standing beside him. I let a smirk flit over my lips. Bill's muscles and concentration, now loose with shock made it easy for me to wrench the sword out of Bill's grasp by tugging on the hand guard that arched over the hilt. I did so carefully but swiftly so that I didn't come into contact with any part of the Bill's hand or the sword that would register against the fabric of my clothes as a hit. Bill, now swordless, tried to turn to see me properly. I was close enough that I could see his mouth open in shock through the wire mask. I casually tossed the sword I had stolen in the air so that it spun around in the air twice like a baton. Bill recoiled again, still wary of flying swords. The handle landed in my palm with a smart 'smack'. I let the momentum of the swords spin continue and with a dramatic flourish I lunged forward and touched the tip of the sword to Bill's chest. Directly where his heart rested in his rib cage. There was a loud buzzing noise that signaled that I had made a hit. Everyone froze; me because that was the instruction, and everyone else because they were in shock. I waited for Mr. Aaron to say something, and when he didn't I couldn't hold back a sarcastic remark.

"First lesson in Defense, William. You've never won until your enemy is well and truly down."

"First hit to Masters!" My voice having snapped Mr. Aaron out of his funk he immediately declared the point so that we could move again. I let the tip of the sword drop before I lightly tossed it, hilt first, back to Bill. Still not prepared for my throwing things, Bill wildly tried to grab the sword. Despite his best efforts it fell through his arms to the floor with a thump.

I couldn't hold back a smirk, as there were a few laughs at Bill's failure. As I went to go get my own sword from the edge of the mat I listened to Bill's indignation at my tactics.

"Mr. Aaron there is no way that that was legal!" I frowned slightly at how much of a whinny child Bill sounded like. Wasn't it obvious by now that Mr. Aaron was not on his side? I just let Mr. Aaron deal with him while I waited for Bill to get himself back together.

"Bill, I already stated that you could use any tactic you want in a freestyle duel. He hasn't done anything that I've specifically said he couldn't. I'm afraid you'll have to either concede or continue the duel." I smirked at the smile Mr. Aaron was very obviously trying to cover up in the name of professionalism. Well at least someone was finding my performance amusing. Bill growled and with a huff he stormed back over to his corner. He took four steps before he realized his sword was still on the ground in the middle of the mat. He stopped did an about face and returned to the center to pick up his sword. The class let out small chuckles, which were unsuccessfully quieted by a sweeping glare from Bill. Though in Bill's defense it is hard to glare at others when you're trying to cover up your own stupidity.

Bill finally returned to his spot at the corner of the mat. We both once again sunk into fight ready stances. I made sure to keep all of my muscles ready for action while Bill, now wary of me and anxious for what I would do, was stiff in his stance.

There was a short trill and Bill and I were fighting once more.

This time I confidently glided forward to the middle of the mat. Bill hesitated a fraction before he too advanced to the center of the mat in stiff awkward shuffling. When neither of us made a move to strike the other the momentum of our forward movement guided us to naturally circle each other instead. Bill and I now traced about a five-foot diameter circle in the center of the mat. I internally rolled my eyes. That cliché moment didn't take long to show itself did it? Slinking around the perimeter of the circle I watched and waited for Bill to gather his courage. Having been thoroughly embarrassed, he now seemed hesitant to make the first move. We slowly completed one circle, then two, then three. I waited for us to have completed another full rotation before I said anything to goad him into attacking. I needed him to move first. I didn't want to be the aggressor in this duel…yet. Bill needed to be the one to start the actual fighting.

"Getting dizzy?" I heard Bill lightly growl before he responded.

"I don't know Masters, I'm not the one who insists on prancing around doing ridiculous stunts." I ignored the later half of Bill's comment and decided to focus on the first half.

"Really, You can't tell whether you are disoriented or not? Well that would certainly explain why you can't seem to catch anything." I waited impatiently for Bill to decipher what I had just said. The class hovered around the edges of the mat still, waiting with baited breath for what we would do next. I had taken two steps going around about a quarter of the circle before Bill said anything.

"You know very well what I meant Masters. Stop playing dumb, it doesn't suit you. Though maybe you aren't actually playing and you really are that stupid." I casually rolled my wrist causing the sword in my hand to flourish at my side, further antagonizing Bill.

"Of course I'm not playing William. You were genuinely bested by me and my 'stupidity'." Bill growled and there were a few 'oh's and snickers from the class. Me and Bill had completed another circle as I verbally baited Bill. I watched, amused, as I started to get the reactions I wanted. Bill resituated his grip on his sword, rolling his shoulders slightly.

"The duel isn't over yet Masters."

"I never would have guessed. I thought we had moved on to 'ring around the rosie'. You seemed to just be having so much fun going around in circles." I barely got to finish my sentence before Bill exhaled loudly as he lunged forward. He did not however take into account that my momentum would have me moved from where he had aimed when he lunged. He ended up awkwardly trying to skewer the air to my left. I stopped following the perimeter of the circle and stepped back slightly. Bill tried to redirect his swords path to hit me in the side. I swiftly moved my sword perpendicular to the floor on my right to block his with a short 'clang'. Seeing that my left side was now open, Bill tried to get a hit by arching his sword over my head. I just moved my arm so that it was now protecting my left side. I was of course, much faster than Bill, even limiting myself to human speed, and his sword, met mine with another clang. Deciding my sides were too well protected Bill went for my feet. I blocked him again with a small move of my arm to reposition my sword.

And it went on like that for several moments. Bill would wildly throw is sword at a spot that he thought looked open and I would block him. Bill's entire body went into attacking me, shifting and moving while I stood there casually, one arm behind my back to keep it out of the way. The only part of my body that moved was my right arm as I kept my sword close to my body so I could move it to a new position in little time. I rolled my eyes, as it was obvious Bill was quickly getting tired. His attacks didn't hit my sword with force anymore and only touched lightly before being deflected. The louder clangs of swords clashing had been replaced with clinks as a result.

"Really William, this strategy obviously isn't working. I understand that you are working with a limited imagination but surely you can come up with something more creative than simply hacking away?" The 'attacks' Bill was sending at me briefly gained back some of their previous power and speed.

"Shut up and just fight back you coward!" Was all Bill was able to grunt out as he swung his sword at me with vigor. I raised my eyebrow in speculation under my mask.

"That'd be a 'no' then?" there was only a growl in response. "Well I suppose I could provide some inspiration…" I prepared to move as Bill swung his sword at the lower half of my legs. With a small jump I was airborne. I brought my knees up to increase my distance from the ground. I zeroed in on Bill's sword as it traveled beneath my feet. My legs snapped back into contact with the ground just as Bill's sword was traveling beneath my left foot. The result was a 'thwack' as Bill's sword was ripped from his hand and trapped beneath my shoe. Bill's torso was pulled downward as he failed to let go of the sword fast enough. I allowed him enough time to straighten himself up before I made my move. My sword slashed through the air as it made contact with the right side of Bill's stomach. If the duel had been real the sword would have continued on its path and cut Bill clear in half.

Again everyone froze and a loud Buzzer sounded. Bill was heaving in breaths, his fists clenched.

"Second hit to Masters!" Mr. Aaron's voice was cheery and congratulatory. I smirked and let my sword fall to a relaxed position.

"William you seem to be developing quite the butterfingers? You aren't getting nervous are you?" Bill glanced to the ground and started to go for his sword still lying on the floor. Only to realize that my foot was still on it, keeping it trapped. Getting tired and frustrated with my taunting Bill lashed out.

"You aren't going to get away with this." I smirked beneath my mask, and deliberately ignored the greater meaning of his statement.

"But I believe I can, you see there are no sensors on the soles of our shoes so any contact with you sword would not count against me. I can Mr. Ford, and I just did." Stepping away I effectively freed Bill's sword once again. I turned uncaringly to walk back towards my corner, knowingly leaving myself open for attack.

Now desperate to get some sort of hit on me Bill loudly grabbed his sword up from the floor. His feet thudded against the matt as he threw himself at me his sword held with two hands above his head ready to come down on my back, hard. I smartly turned around and I brought my sword above my head, parallel to the ground. Bill's sword crashed into mine loudly. Bill didn't give up his attack and continued to push down on my sword. I glared through my mask. Mr. Aaron spoke up indignantly, starting to approach us at the center of the mat.

"Hey! There will be no attacking in between rounds! Mr. Ford I'm afraid you're disqual-"

"If you'll pardon me Mr. Aaron." I drawled lightly. Oh no, I wasn't going to let Bill's lack of impulse control ruin this. We were going to finish this fight. Bill pushed down with all of his might against my sword, oblivious to what was going on. He was using all of his weight and leverage to push past my sword. Of course he was no match for me in a contest of strength. I only held my sword leisurely above my head with one hand. Mr. Aaron slowed slightly in walking towards us at my interruption. Seeing that I really wasn't having any trouble Mr. Aaron decided to let me speak.

"Go ahead." I turned my head to face Mr. Aaron, keeping an eye on Bill out of the corner of my eye. I continued to speak casually.

"If I am recalling correctly you never specifically stated that attacking between rounds was against the rules. As I have bent a few of the more traditional rules myself, I feel it is only fair that we overlook this 'transgression' as well. What do you say?" Mr. Aaron's head recoiled from his shoulders slightly. His face twisted into a look of amused confusion. He stood a moment, thinking over what I had said. I smirked as I could faintly see Bill glancing anxiously between me and Mr. Aaron as he strained against my sword.

"I suppose your right. Back to your starting positions then…" Mr. Aaron skeptically took a few steps back waiting for us to separate ourselves, but ready to move forward again if things escalated. I waited for Bill to back off himself, and when he didn't I didn't hesitate to throw him off. I easily pushed back against Bills sword and sent him reeling. He stumbled backwards from the force. I turned back around to take the last two steps to my own corner. I turned again to catch Bill warily walking backwards towards his. Mr. Aaron, seeing that me and Bill were in fact doing what we were told this time, had retreated to the edge of the mat. The class was still irritatingly quite, beside a few whispers. I was kind of disappointed. I had hoped for more of a reaction I guess. I mean I _was_ putting on a show. Though I couldn't really blame anyone. There was an underlying tension in the room that seemed to be causing everyone to keep quite.

I settled back into a fight ready stance as easily as a regular person would take a deep breath. Even if Bill wasn't much of an opponent it did feel good to be fighting like this again. It had really been such a long time since I had fought a real living thing. I guess ghosts aren't technically 'living' but you get my point. It was nice to have an opponent that could, well…'supposedly' think for itself.

A short trill brought me quickly back to the present and without hesitation I started in on the last part of my little display. It was time to put the fear of _Masters_ in him.

It was a second before Bill started moving. I let him take two steps before I bolted forward. Keeping my sword angled downward. Bill took a swipe at me as I came within striking range. I avoided the tip of his sword my jumping over him completely. I tucked myself into a ball and spun so that I landed facing Bill's exposed back. There was just enough room in the corner for me to land. Instead of taking advantage of Bill's horrible reaction time and landing the hit, I took the time to infuse the sword I was using with just a small amount of my ecto-energy. If you looked closely you might have been able to see a faint green glow, but the sword was moving too fast to catch details like that anyway. The energy allowed me to use the sword more as an extension of my arm. I was now aware of it in a way I would be aware of where my arm or leg was, allowing me more precise control.

Bill finally got to turning around to face me. He didn't hesitate and started to hack away at me once more; seeming more confident now that he had me in a 'corner'. Really you thought he would have learned his lesson about corners from our time in the lounge, but nope. Bill had an even thicker skull than I did. This time when Bill started flailing at me, I didn't just deflect his blows. He went for the obvious opening on my right side again. This time I deflected it with a sweep upwards forcing him to move backwards as I kept the tip of my own sword from just grazing his mask.

For once Bill didn't stumble in his retreat and took a somewhat smooth step backward. I followed him and didn't allow him to regain himself. My sword made a whipping noise through the air as I traced an 'x' just a hair over his exposed chest, making sure never to make contact. I wanted to draw this out at least a little bit. Bill retreated again at the close call, leading us to the center of the mat once more. I followed and lowered my crouch so that I had a better angle on his legs. I took a calculated swipe at his back foot where his weight was centered and was amused as he jumped clumsily to avoid the sword. I redirected my sword into a figure eight motion to watch with some mirth as he immediately jumped again.

I could have stayed there and watched him dance, but I didn't want to get predictable. As I stood up again Bill lunged forward with a downward stroke, aiming to catch me in the shoulder. My own sword whipped up to meet Bill's before he could land a hit. I completely reversed the momentum of Bill's attack and threw his arm back over his shoulder. His chest was, again, exposed. Whistling through the air I traced an 'M' over his chest this time, still not landing the hit. Bill retreated once more at the close call. This time I didn't follow him. He hesitated for a brief moment. I took the opening for some well placed sarcasm.

"Come now William, that's three times that you've given me the opportunity to strike. Surely you are having me on?" With a grunt of frustration Bill lunged forward, aiming to take a low swipe at my hip. I moved my sword to intercept his with a clang. I redirected the path of Bill's sword with my own, so that it arched over my head before flicking it away. I had time enough to slash my sword in front of Bill's face before he regained his bearings.

Again Bill retreated at the close call. This time I didn't allow him to get away. I followed him and aimed to strike his left side with deliberate slowness. Allowing him to move his sword to block mine in time. As soon as he had intercepted I abandon the attack and went for his opposite side, again allowing him enough time to block me. I repeated the process going back to his right side. Slowly I increased my pace as I repeated the pattern, forcing him to take steps backward with the increasing intensity of my attacks. To Bill's credit he did try to get past me once he saw I was using a pattern. He tried to switch things up by moving side to side. I easily out maneuvered him and in no time I had him zigzagged into a corner. Bill eyed the edge of the matt as he got closer and closer. His defense became more and more hasty as he realized where he was headed.

Finally Bill could take no more steps back. I abruptly stopped aiming for his sides and directed my sword out in an arch so that it could come down on Bill's head. The large arch I used allowed Bill barely enough time to realize what I was doing and move his sword to protect his head. His sword intercepted mine an inch from his forehead. Our swords crossed close to the hilts. His wrist was in a position that would not be allowed to move unless I released the pressure I was putting him under. We were once again locked in a contest of strength. Bill strained to push my sword back, obviously without any success. Knowing that I had Bill pinned I looked at his face and searched for his eyes. Again we were close enough that we could see through the wire mesh. I let a mischievous smile play on my lips as I made an offer I knew Bill would never take.

"Freedom is but a step away William. You can forfeit the match now and quit while your down, or stand there and be humiliated. The choice is yours." I listened for a moment as Bill breathed noisily through his nose and clenched teeth.

"In your dreams Masters." I increased the downward pressure on Bill's sword. He grunted and his knees were forced to bend at the added pressure. I let a devious smile play over my face.

"As you wish." I abruptly let up on Bill's sword. It sprung upward out of Bill's control without the restraint. In that moment I struck. My own sword whipped through the air in a tight circle so that I could strike coming from bellow. I targeted the small space between Bill's hand and the Hand guard once again. My arm snapped out like a viper as I thrust the tip of my sword through the small space. Keeping my sword tip pointed at the ceiling I yanked back and took Bill's sword with me. Once the sword was out of Bill's grip I took a smooth step back to be able to properly maneuver. Bill's sword now hung around the hilt of mine like a necklace. With a sharp jerk I bounced the sword off of the hilt of my own. It slid up and off the blade before falling into my left hand. As soon as the second sword hit my palm I infused it with ecto-energy, and started spinning both swords wildly around my own body. I was putting on a show after all. I was forcing the pieces of metal faster through the air, actually encountering wind resistance. The room was silent except for the loud whipping noise of swords being put through their paces. Bill had still not moved from his corner, just watching me in shock. Deciding that I'd had enough of just flinging swords around I lunged forward, moving smoothly from my display into an attack. Still flourishing the swords slightly Bill had a hard time tracking the swords with his eyes as they came at him.

There was a loud buzzing sound as I landed my third hit.

I immediately froze. The room was silent and still. Now that I was no longer moving so quickly everyone could get a good look what I had ended up doing. I watched as Bill discovered exactly how badly he had lost. He cautiously glanced down to see the sword I had poised over, but not touching, his chest. His eyes shot up to me in confusion, obviously wondering how the buzzer had sounded without the sword touching him. As he looked at me it occurred to him that I wasn't in possession of just one sword. I watched with growing satisfaction as Bill followed my left arm, down the sword I held and to the point I had actually made contact.

Coincidentally he ended up staring at his crotch. There he saw a sword paused in the process of chopping off his manhood. The class, finally snapping out of their daze, and figuring out what I had done, burst into full loud laughter. A few were even immature enough to point as they laughed with the guy standing next to them. I saw Bill tense and stiffen in response to being put in the spotlight. Hearing Mr. Aaron declare me the victor through the laughter, I mercifully fell out of my frozen state. I let the swords fall to my sides as I stood back up fully. I watched amused, as Bill only seethed as the laughter continued around him. With repressed laughter of his own Mr. Aaron tried to get the class to settle down and headed towards their own mats to use the rest of the class period to practice. The class started to move, still snickering and laughing as they got themselves started. Mr. Aaron came towards us on the mat; he congratulated us on a good match and urged us to get back to our partners for today. He awarded us both twenty points extra credit for participating. As Mr. Aaron turned to attend to the rest of the class I held out Bill's sword for him to take with my thumb and forefinger. He ripped it out of my hand and glared.

"This isn't the end Masters. You are going to pay for this." I raised my eyebrows. I had been expecting his anger, but I thought even Bill would know when he'd lost. He obviously didn't know when to quit. If he still thought he could best me then the whole point of the duel had been blown out of the water. That in itself was incredibly frustrating, as I'd just thoroughly humiliated Bill and he still didn't get the message. How stupid was he? I hid my anger though, instead deciding to give hem a direct warning.

"For your own sake I hope that was a bluff." I took a step forward to whisper threateningly in his ear. "Because if you choose to cross me again William I'm not entirely sure you'd make it to the other side of things in tact." Not waiting for a reply I turned and went off to the mat that I usually used. It was closest to Mr. Aaron, who was always nearby ready to give me pointers or remind me of the rules. I didn't understand why Bill wouldn't just give up. What was so important about making me look bad?

I sighed heavily as I approached my partner for today. Whatever Bill decided to do next, it couldn't be half as bad as the rumors he'd already spread about me believing in ghosts. There really wasn't anything about me that was more damning than that. Whatever the idiot decided to throw my way, I would be able to handle it. I came to my end of the mat and took a look at who would be dueling me today. The guy was obviously nervous, the way he shifted around and backed away from me slightly. I wondered why for a minute before I realized that he had just watched me demolish Bill, one of the better duelers in the class.

I smirked, I suppose there were a few benefits to revealing that I wasn't so bad with a sword. I whipped my sword around my sides once before settling into an obvious fighting stance. I seriously had to hold back a laugh as the guy visibly recoiled. I could practically feel him sweat from six feet away. I confidently moved forward as Mr. Aaron shouted "en guard!"

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Despite everything, despite this morning, despite the ghost rumors, despite the sick obsession fate seemed to have with my screwy life, my day was starting to turn around. I was hesitant to believe it would last at first, but it was now the end of the day and nothing else had happened. There were three minutes until the end of class, and the end of school. I had made it to sixth hour after I had beaten Bill in Fencing and nothing else had gone wrong. I was astounded. This had never happened before. Who ever heard of a bad day turning into a good one? Especially one of _my _bad days. It just wasn't supposed to happen. It was making me suspicious, really. I couldn't help but feel like this was some sort of trick. It was like that weird nightmare I had. Things didn't just suddenly get better without hitting rock bottom first. But here I was, at the end of the day, and nothing else had happened to screw it up. Actually it had been kind of a good day after fencing.

Much to my amusement, someone had hacked into the security camera's database and gotten a hold of the duel me and Bill had had. As with every other piece of gossip, it was now known to the entire school what had happened in fencing class. Even though Bill had completely ignored the terms I had set for the duel, and really I wasn't expecting anything less, everyone knew about them anyway. So it didn't matter whether Bill wanted to uphold the terms or not, everyone doubted the rumors he had started because of the tape. I didn't really care either way, but it was a perk. Jason came up to me later to thank me. I said 'your welcome', and not to think anything of it. He just looked at me like I was crazy before he smiled and fell into place behind my right hand. He now persisted in following me around like a lost puppy. No matter how much I glared, or snapped, or growled he wouldn't stop. He kept right on keeping my shadow company. I had decided to ignore it at this point. Whatever, as long as it was _just _Jason that followed me around, I didn't really mind… Well, not too much anyway.

On another note, Emma had apparently seen the tape as well and wasn't so devastated at my actions towards her during lunch anymore. Whenever she looked at me she would either blush or give me this really confusing look, like I was a puzzle she was trying to figure out. Of course due to my declarations of protection in the terms I had set out for Bill, everyone now thought that I had a thing for Emma. Which was really frustrating because I didn't. Had anyone in this school ever heard of a thing called chivalry? God, you'd think that just because I looked for more than two seconds at a girl I was declaring my undying love for them. It was ridiculous. Even if I did like Emma I wasn't ready to be in that sort of relationship yet. There was too much going on in the hell that was my life. Really the last thing I needed was a girl to worry about. Despite that even, I was still really pissed at Sam and Tucker. I just didn't want a girlfriend right now. Maybe even really ever. Who wants to deal with that sort of thing anyway? The only thing girlfriends did was get close to you and then dump you. I was really sick of being dumped on by everyone already; I didn't wan to encourage it.

The bell rang and there was a lot of shuffling around as everyone packed up his or her laptops to get ready to go home. I shut mine gently, and made sure it was secure in its case before I stood up. I made my way out into the hallway to excited giggling and talking. Moving through the crowd with ease I made my way to the front doors where Clinton would be waiting for me; the first limo in the extremely long pick up line. I don't know how early he had to get here to be the first in line, but he always was. I had tried to ask him once and he wouldn't tell me. I had also tried to tell him that he didn't have to bother himself with being first or getting here early to _be_ first and he had had ignored that too. He even looked insulted! Whatever. I guess if he wasn't bothered by it, it wasn't that big a deal. It was nice that he was the first one in the line though; I never had to wait for him to pull around. Continuing to dodge around people who don't know how to walk in an organized fashion, I hustled towards the front door. I was just happy to get home and end the day on a good note for once.

"Why the hurry Masters? Excited to get back to your delusional father?" I froze, paused mid step. Oh no. No, no, no. I did _not_ hear what I think I just heard. A girl was bumped to the ground as she ran into me from behind. The hall had briefly gotten quieter at the shout. People stopped what they were doing to look for whoever had shouted the obvious insult. Now that the hall was quieter, whoever was behind me didn't have to shout what he said next. "Though I shouldn't be surprised really. You had to learn how to be a lunatic from somewhere." My blood boiled. I shut my eyes as I felt them snap to an infuriated green. Oh this was wonderful, just fan-fucking-tastic. I was torn between the urge to scream and laugh hysterically. Of course. _Of course_ something like this would happen! The impertinent little snot obviously did not know what he had just started. And of course he wasn't going to go for the half hearted insult, no he was going to go all out because apparently he had a death wish. He had to open I his dysfunctional little pie hole and spout something that there was no way I could ignore, and there was no way I was ignoring what he said. My knuckles cracked with the force I was clenching my fists. Slowly, I turned on the balls of my feet to face my aggressor.

The space between me and Bill had cleared, allowing me a full view of the world's biggest idiot. I spoke calmly in an icy hiss that _I_ didn't even know I had.

"Would you care to repeat yourself Mr. Ford? I don't believe I heard you correctly." Bill raised his eyebrow at me. His hands arrogantly placed on his hips.

"What have you got hearing problems now? I said Vlad Masters is crazy, cuckoo, as in obviously not in his right mind. Do you still need me to elaborate for you?" I let out a low primal growl that came from deep in my chest. Despite myself a pulse of energy flared out from around me. Some of the people standing closer to me backed away, giving me wary looks. I didn't notice, my focus was entirely on Bill. How _dare_ he say those things about Vlad. He had no right. I had warned the sorry little excuse for a living organism what would happen if he crossed me again, but this…this was a whole different ballgame. He had not only crossed _me,_ he had insulted _Vlad_. Vlad, who gave me a refuge when I needed one the most. Vlad, who housed me, clothed me, fed me, educated me, trained me, and healed me when there was no one else that could. I might have shown restraint if he had only attacked me and my image, but he didn't. He had decided to attack Vlad and his image as well, and that was something I was not going to tolerate. _Nobody_ was going to insult Vlad's integrity and get away with it. Not while I had any say about it. I wasn't going to hold back. This wasn't just about me anymore. Bill, for all intents and purposes, had just insulted _my father_ and I was NOT going to put up with that shit. Not here, not now, not ever again. Bill was going to find out exactly who he was messing with in a very unfortunate way. I started taking slow steps towards Bill to close the gap between us. My steps were eerily silent as I drew closer.

"Is that so." My voice hissed from between my clenched teeth,"And what, Mr. Ford, gave you this impression of my father?" I came to a halt when I was no less than three feet from Bill. At any other time Bill's pitiful attempt at a smirk might have given me some amusement, but not now. Now it only made me see red.

"You tell me Masters. What kind of impression does the CEO of a _ghost hunting_ company give you?" That was his excuse? That was the basis for this suicidal stunt? Before I started taking business classes I would have had no clue what Bill was talking about. Now however, after I had managed a mini portfolio based off of Vlad's, I knew exactly what Vlad did and didn't own. Axion Labs was only one of Vlad's smaller companies, but he owned it in full. I saw straight through Bill's little plot. He couldn't get to me and my image, so he was going to have a go at my fathers and see how far he could take it. And to add a healthy does of the sick irony that seems to insist taking up residence in my life, Bill was going to go after Vlad by using his connections to ghosts.

No, this was not going to go anywhere. I was so sick of ghosts being the fucking reason that my life is destroyed. Bill was not going to go and use that excuse to ruin Vlad's life anymore either. Both of us have had enough of this shit ruining our day-to-day lives to last an afterlife. I took another step forward, uncomfortably invading Bill's personal space. I spoke in a monotone that the crowd surrounding us was only just able to hear.

"The impression it gives me, William, is one of a businessman who is willing to explore any venue that might produce a profit. And just so you know, Axion Labs is a rather successful venue. Why would that make Vladimir Masters any less sane?" I reveled in satisfaction as I watched Bill squirm at the uncomfortable proximity. He responded, trying to cover up his discomfort.

"A Ghost Hunting company Masters? You are not seriously telling me that a person who invested in a _Ghost Hunting_ company isn't at least a little screwed in the head." He spoke louder than was necessary, and looked over my shoulder and around the crowd as if searching for some reassurance. I let a smirk that reached deep into my eyes fall over my face. I locked directly into Bill's gaze before I addressed the crowd around us and responded loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What I'm telling you Mr. Ford is that you do not have to believe in anything to make a profit. Who is to base what my father does or does not believe off of what company he owns. Only a fool would turn down a tenable option of revenue because he didn't 'believe' in it. Money is money Mr. Ford, and the reason my father is the most successful man in the world is because he understands that fact." I starred Bill down as I clasped my hands behind my back and stalked a slow tight circle around Bill's stiff form. "The richest man in the world, and you would criticize his method of conduct. If I were in your position I would be taking notes. My father has taught me that business is not about what you 'believe in' its not about what is 'right' or 'wrong'. He has taught me to be successful by analyzing my options and doing what is necessary to achieve my ends." I came to a stop when I was in front of Bill again. "Perhaps I believe in ghosts. Perhaps _my father_ believes in ghosts. Or perhaps me and my father are simply not as close-minded as you would like us all to be. The point is Mr. Ford, that you really are in no position to judge." I gave the crowd around us quick glance before my eyes locked with Bill's once more. I stepped closer yet. I was close enough that I could almost hear his heart thudding in his chest. I leaned forward speaking directly into his ear, whispering barely loud enough for Bill to hear.

"Yes William, scream it to the mountain tops. Let everyone know that my father and I believe in the paranormal." I adopted a predatory smirk as I watched Bill shiver at the cold breath I was exhaling on his neck. "I warned you about insulting my father. I warned you about crossing me and my name. You did not listen and now you are going to suffer the consequences. I want you to remember me when things happen that you can't seem to explain. I want you to remember my voice, when you are scared for your sanity. Because I have the means to _make you_ believe, William. My father does own a Ghost Hunting company after all." I let my last words hover over his shoulder before I withdrew and spoke once again for those nearby to hear.

"Go ahead and tell everyone about what my father and I believe Mr. Ford. Let everyone know about our supposed insanity. By the end of the month I can guarantee that you will be quite sure yourself, whether ghosts exist or not." I held Bill's gaze for a moment, waiting for him to look away first. He held up for about two seconds before he briefly glanced to the side. Satisfied I turned abruptly on my heal and strode toward the front doors to be driven home. My footsteps, that should have been clacking loud enough for everyone to hear in the silent hallway, were non-existant. The door in the main entrance creaked when I opened it and fell shut with a small thud behind me.


	41. Chapter 41: Back in Black

AN:/ Excuses and explanations in the Author's Note of the next Chapter.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 42: Back in Black

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, December 19, 2011, 9:42PM_

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**Tucker's POV**

I coughed, not even bothering to cover my mouth. I mean who was going to get sick from me anyway? It wasn't like there was anyone walking around on the sidewalk at this early in the morning. I hunted around in my pocket to see if I had a Halls in there or not. Silently, I reprimanded myself for not remembering to reload my pockets before I left the house this morning. Sam or my mom usually reminded me to do stuff like that. Obviously Sam didn't live with me, and my mom had gotten up this morning to go into work early, so naturally I had forgotten. I had been coming down with a cough recently, since I was spending all this time out in the cold hunting ghosts. You can only take so much cough medicine before it becomes detrimental to your health. A grin slipped onto my face as I found the Halls I was looking for. Untwisting one end of the wrapper I pinched the other end and shot the little drop out into my waiting hand, popping it into my mouth. I hiked up my pants as they started to fall down again. I had lost a little weight, once again due to ghost hunting, and I had yet to find time to buy a belt. It got really annoying, and was more than a little inconvenient when I had both my hands full and my pants needed desperate attending to.

I glanced up from the sidewalk to make sure no traffic was coming as I crossed the street. I remember one time I had been walking to Sam's house with Danny so we could all walk to school. I had been so engrossed in this new program I had downloaded for my PDA that I had completely forgotten to stop and look. The only reason I hadn't been turned into some kind of Tucker pancake was because Danny had grabbed hold of me and turned me intangible in time. Danny had done lots of stuff like that.

I sighed again as I thought of Danny. We had tried to get a hold of him. We really had. We didn't just need Danny because he was our friend anymore; the town was seriously going to start collapsing into chaos soon if we didn't get Danny back soon. The problem was, that we just could _not_ get a hold of him. We had called him, emailed him, texted him, and he would never answer. We had called Jazz and asked if she would deliver a message for us last week. She had replied to us that Danny had threatened not to talk to her anymore if she started trying to get Danny to talk to us, and didn't want to risk anything until the situation was desperate. That had caused Sam, who was already practically crying by this point, to accuse Jazz of being a coward for not telling Danny what a pile of shit he was being and calling the empty threat for what it was. That had caused Jazz to get really silent for a minute and then she hung up. So now Jazz wasn't talking to us anymore. It wasn't like we were super tight friends with Jazz to begin with; she was just Danny's older sister. So when the yelling had started, she hadn't had a lot of incentive to keep listening. I had tried to call her after I had calmed Sam down to apologize, but Jazz wouldn't pick up now either. So we had to wait until Jazz called us now. After that point we had racked our brains for any other form of communication that we could use. We ended up looking up Vlad's mansion address on the Internet, and sending Danny _snail mail_. We had sat for three hours, with periodic ghost interruptions, typing up a letter to send to Danny yesterday, practically begging him to come back and help us. And if Danny didn't respond to this… that was it. If Danny didn't get our letter, we were screwed. Unless Jazz decided to cooperate with us, we were on our own.

Against my better judgment I couldn't help but feel angry and betrayed by the way Danny had left us all to fend for ourselves. I mean, I know he was upset and everything, but come on. It had been a month now. A whole freaking month and he hadn't gotten over himself enough to come back yet. Since Danny was the one who fought all these ghosts on a regular basis he obviously knew what we would be up against without him here. All emotional crap aside, how long exactly, did he think we were going to hold up without him? But nope, Danny was still at Vlad's. Danny was _still_ hiding out in his enemy's mansion and not doing anything to try and make up with us.

I mean come on. I understood at first. We had really hurt Danny, and I guess he would have needed some time to himself, but this was just a little ridiculous. I mean, I know his parents are still phsyco about Danny's ghost half, but he wouldn't have to go back and live with them or anything. He could hide at Sam's place or mine while we figured things out. It wasn't like Danny's parents were a real threat to him or anything. They could barely fight a level two ghost; they wouldn't be a problem for Danny who was a level eight and a half. Really the only reason Danny wasn't back yet was because he was being selfish and holding a grudge. Yes we hurt his feelings, and it was wrong, and his parents are screwed up, but he's Danny Phantom! I know he knows how much this town really needs his protection; he would talk about it_ all the time._ Danny was the only person we could really count on to keep Amity safe. We just can't handle it by ourselves. Danny had to have seen all the desperate news reports calling for his return. He was being really stupid by staying away with all of this going on.

Even if he didn't want to come and make up with me and Sam, shouldn't he at least come back to town to make sure that everyone was safe? He was always going on and on about how it was his responsibility to keep the town safe because he was the one to turn on the portal and he was the one with the ghost powers. Well, where was he now? We needed him man! We really couldn't keep this up. Especially me and Sam. We were falling apart at the seams.

I didn't know what Sam thought about Danny anymore. She just didn't talk about him. Though in Sam's defense there wasn't really anything to say anymore, we had exhausted the topic. We were both getting pissed that Danny was staying away for so long and knowingly leaving everyone else to deal with all the ghosts. Danny had to know that we were struggling. He went on all the time about how he was the only thing keeping this town from chaos. What did he think was going to happen when he went away, that all the ghosts would go away too? Yeah right. It was like Danny almost wanted to punish us or something. I sighed and started to slow as I got near Sam's house.

I came to a stop as I waited at the end of Sam's driveway for her to come out. I had stopped using the doorbell a long time ago: years before. It was unnecessary. We had our whole morning routine down to a science and we knew where everyone was at any particular minute before we got to school. I hadn't been waiting thirty seconds before the front door to Sam's house was pushed open and then shut again. I raised my eyebrow at Sam making her way down the driveway. She saw my look and rolled her eyes.

"What?" she asked, like I had done something wrong.

"Nothing it's just the first time I think I've ever seen you without wearing black." And it really was. As the ghost fights went on, both of our closets had been suffering the wrath of burns and tears. I myself didn't have very many intact shirts or pants left, by the looks of it neither did Sam. Neither of us really had the time or resources to keep up our ideal wardrobe. Me because my family couldn't afford to be constantly replacing clothes, and Sam because her parents refused to buy her anything that was even remotely Goth. Sam usually dyed the clothes her parents got her; the problem was that she didn't have the time anymore.

The change in wardrobe had been a gradual thing; occasionally wearing things we normally wouldn't have because our favored clothes had been destroyed beyond repair. Sam had been wearing more jeans and pants instead of skirts. Her look had slowly gone from mostly black, to green and purple. My cargo pants had taken a lot of hits and I had taken to wearing jeans too. They were way easier to patch up. Anyway, This was the first day that I had seen Sam without even a speck of black clothing on her. Usually Sam had alt least retained some sort of black clothing, even if she was wearing a majority of other colors. Sam closed the distance between us and we started walking down the sidewalk. She grumbled at my comment before offering up an explanation.

"Yeah well, yesterday I finally saw the death of my last black t-shirt and all of my black jeans are dirty." I blushed as I remembered exactly how that particular t-shirt had met its end. We had been chasing a ghost around the football field when it had been necessary to jump over a taller than normal chain-link fence. Sam's shirt had caught on it and she had been unable to stop moving over the fence before it ripped. The shirt had ripped all the way up her front before she fell to the ground. Still caught in the fence, Sam had fallen completely out of her shirt and into the cold fall air, clad in nothing but her black lace bra. I looked up from the sidewalk to see Sam blushing too. She kept tugging at the green plaid flannel and blue jeans she was wearing as if it was uncomfortable. I spoke up again, still keeping my eyes to the sidewalk.

"Well I think it looks nice." Sam scoffed and looked up to me with skepticism.

"Tucker I look like a lumberjack." I just wiggled my eyebrows in the weird way that always got Sam to roll her eyes.

"What's wrong with lumberjacks? I thought it would be great to be a lumberjack. All those pancakes…" Sam predictably rolled her eyes.

"Tucker, ignoring the pancake comment, everything is wrong with lumberjacks. They cut down trees for a living!" Her comment caused me to shut up for a moment. Oh yeah, Sam was always uptight about the whole 'save the earth' thing. I hadn't thought about that part of being a lumberjack. Even though she didn't really look like a lumberjack to begin with. If anything she just looked like she was about to go on a hike. Sam grumbled and stared back at the sidewalk; seeing that I had nothing else encouraging to say that she could shoot down. A frown fell on my face. I though for a moment, on what I could say to make her feel better before it hit me.

"Well Sam now that I think of it, you aren't completely without anything black today." She looked up at me, confused. I threw my arm over her shoulder, "You'll never be without your favorite Black accessory!" I sent a huge cheesy grin at her, showing all my teeth. Sam burst out laughing, stumbling forward as she did so.

"Thanks Tucker. How could I have forgotten about my most favorite accessory, I'll never know." I sent a fake scowl her way.

"You know I don't really know either. I'm hurt Sam, really. I thought you cared!" I broke into fake overdramatic sobs. Sam only chuckled some more before she moved her arm to settle around my waist. I was taller than she was so it was awkward for her to reach up to my shoulder, especially when my arm was already on hers.

"Come on Tuck, let's get to school, at least before something starts attacking again." I stopped fake sobbing and chippered up.

"There you go Sam that's the spirit!" Sam shook her head at me as we continued to walk down the sidewalk. I waited for Sam to pull her hand away again, signaling for me to let go of her shoulder, but she didn't. We walked for a few moments in silence. Having her so close to me as we walked was nice, especially in the cold so we could share body heat. It was perfect; she fit exactly in the embrace of my arm so that it wasn't weird or uncomfortable, like she was meant to be there. I tried to offer her as much comfort as I could while she would let me. Sam was the type of girl that liked to stand on her own, which was one of the things I liked about her. It meant she wouldn't need someone to be there _all_ the time. But there were times where I wished I could be the person she leaned on. Everyone needed a person like that sometime, and Sam was one of the people who didn't like to admit that fact.

I looked down when I felt a new pressure settle into my side. What I saw was Sam leaning her head against my side as we walked. My heart skipped a beat in my chest. Something seemed to click into place in my heart, deciding my next few actions.

"Hey Sam." Sam immediately took her head off of my side, looking up at me with hot cheeks. She tried to pull away from me, embarrassed. Before I lost the contact I craved, I rushed to finish. "Do you want to go to the Nasty Burger sometime?" Sam stopped trying to untangle herself and halted walking towards the school. I stopped too, keeping my gaze trained on my scuffed up steel-toed boots. Sam's hand was resting in the small of my back and I was desperately wishing that she wouldn't pull away.

"Tucker?" I didn't say anything. Way too embarrassed to really do anything at this point. Sam waited a moment and when I didn't respond Sam spoke again. "Tucker, did you just ask me out?" Still not moving, desperately not wanting to let go of the moment where Sam had been leaning into me for comfort I only mumbled out a response.

"Yeah." Sam was silent. We stood there. A car passed with a whoosh and the cold morning air swirled around us. Completely terrified about the fact that Sam wasn't saying anything I rushed to say something to make up for the huge mistake I had just made. What kind of an idiot was I anyway? I knew it was too soon. I knew it! "Look Sam just forget it. I was-"

"Sure." I stopped and my head snapped up to meet Sam's gaze. She had a shy smile over her face. Her cheeks were once again red in embarrassment. I gapped for a moment.

"W-what?" Sam rolled her eyes and moved closer to my side again. Urging me to start walking forward. I started to slowly comply, still in shock as I felt Sam's head settle on my chest once more.

"I said yes stupid. Now mush!" I started to properly walk again at Sam's prodding. There was silence again as our footsteps fell into sync and we continued to school. I blinked, starting to wrap my brain around what Sam had just said. I spoke again, trying to understand what had just happened.

"Okay then. It's a date." I felt as well as heard Sam scoff beside me. Nothing else was said on our way to school. Sam didn't take her head off my chest again the whole way.


	42. Chapter 42: You Put the Words Right In M

AN:/ Alright, so. I have been sitting on this, for a little while actually. I was going to save it for Christmas and post it as part of a tripple chapter post, as a christmas present for you guys. However, I am just too god damned proud of this chapter to wait. So you get the first two chapters of my tripple chapter post early, because I am greedy and I want to hear what you guys have to say about it when you finish. So review Damit! Because i really really really want to know what you thought of this chapter! (sorry for that outburst, you guys are actually usually very generous with your reviews. I have absolutely no room to complain) So yeah. This is one, of my favorite chapters, if not my favorite chapter, so far. I am really excited to see what you guys have to say. I worked really hard on this to make it perfect, and i'm just really excited. I'm going to keep working on the third chapter that was supposed to be a part of the christmas present and hopefully that should be to you by the intended date. So yeah, happy early christmas!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 43: You Put the Words Right In My Mouth

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, December 19, 2011, 9:47PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

This morning the newspaper sat by my empty plate, untouched. Usually I would peruse the newspaper while I waited for Daniel to be down to breakfast, so we could both be served and start our day. Today however, I couldn't bring myself to care about the trivialities of the world. No, I had far more important things to ponder this morning, namely Daniel.

I was nearly positive that the confrontation between Daniel and William had come to a head yesterday. Daniel had worn a look of anger and anticipation when I got home that I was all too familiar with; having seen the expression on my own face enough times to recognize it. It was a look that generally preceded some amount of serious planning and revenge. It was the look of someone who was about to teach an inferior his or her place. I would be remiss if I said I wasn't just a little proud of Daniel and his obvious plans of revenge. Finally, the boy was claiming the authority and power that was rightfully his. Daniel belonged at the top by my side, and I was thrilled to see my little badger finally claiming what belonged to him.

Honestly, the confrontation had been a long time in coming. I had been expecting this moment ever since William had had the gall to call me at my office on Daniel's first day. I hadn't asked after Daniel and his school problems. I knew my help wouldn't be permitted in this area, and for good reason. The boy would have to learn to fight his own battles; not that he even needed my help in that area. As I had articulated to him before, I was well aware that Daniel could hold his own. It was only a matter of encouraging him to take a more _active_ role of dominance. I had watched as Daniel came home, day after day, in various states of annoyance or anger over something that must have happened at school, and I knew that before long Daniel was going to meet his wits end. I knew all too well that William was too dull to know when to stop. It wasn't his fault, nearly any child raised out of money couldn't see beyond their own noses, let alone perceive when they were out of their depths.

Learning to stand up for himself was not the only area Daniel had been improving in. He almost never became startled when I woke him in the mornings, especially if I used my voice to wake him. Small displays of ghostly power now got almost no reaction from the teen. He was slowly becoming acclimated to my own ghost powers and their use around the house. A few days ago he had even started using his own ghost powers for mundane purposes, where before he would hesitate to use his powers outside of the training room. For instance I might have phased through a door instead of going through the trouble of opening it. Before now, Daniel would've taken the time to use the door instead of simply following my example and phasing through as well. Surprisingly I don't think the decision to use his ghost powers around the house, as I did, had been a conscious decision. He seemed to hardly notice that he had changed his behavior, and for that I was glad. Of course he still made sure to exercise the utmost secrecy, but that was expected. I was not exempt from that rule either. The point was that he didn't think twice about taking advantage of his ghost powers for other purposes besides fighting. Slowly, I believe, he is coming to realize that his ghost powers are not just for use as a weapon or a defense mechanism, they are a part of who he is.

After I had learned Daniel's feelings about being half ghost during his "check up" it had been infinitely easier to identify why he was so hesitant to follow my example around the house. He simply hadn't thought it was 'normal' or 'okay' to do so. I was glad to say that that notion was definitely changing. As I used my own powers in his presence more and more, he began to accept that doing such things was okay. I hoped at least, that as he followed my example he was learning that his ghost half wasn't a separate part of him; that he could learn to accept that he was still half ghost, even in his human form. Because that's what he was. Daniel and I were half ghosts and not just half of the time. As I continued to use my powers around the house and Daniel became more and more accustom to the ghostly aspect of my presence, it was evident that his views about himself and his ghost half were changing as well. This was one of the things I could do for Daniel that no one else could. I was showing Daniel that it was okay to be half ghost. I could show him that there was nothing wrong with what he was. Only I could help him feel _normal_.

I was proud beyond measure of Daniel and the progress he was making. Even in our daily training sessions, he was making measurable progress. It wouldn't be long now before Daniel would have the proper amount of control over his ghost half for me to start teaching him teleportation. Of course that would only come after he had mastered all of the defense training sequences I had programed into my training room. After I had deemed it necessary to focus on Daniel's defense techniques it became painfully obvious just how inept Daniel was at holding a defensive position. The teen could, quite literally, launch an attack in his sleep, but when it came to blocking he might as well have gotten his ghost powers yesterday. The poor boy knew next to nothing about using his ghost energy as a shield. He was getting better of course, but he still had a long ways to go before I deemed him adequate.

There was a barely audible 'snick' as the door to the dinning room was pushed open. I watched as the object of my thoughts walked towards his usual chair at my right side. He smiled tiredly at me. "Morning Vlad." I seamlessly came out of my thoughts, only blinking once or twice before I responded.

"Good morning Daniel. Did you sleep well?" A butler, Douglas this morning, pulled out Daniel's chair for him and he properly sat down to breakfast; unbuttoning his suit jacket just as I had taught him. He shrugged as he responded.

"It was okay I guess. It's hard to have a bad nights sleep in that bed." I nodded my head once in acknowledgement before I asked after his less than perfect sleep in concern.

"Was there anything in particular troubling you?" Of course I already had an idea of what was troubling him but as his guardian it was my job to ask anyway. I hardly expected him to answer truthfully. So naturally I was surprised when he did. He heaved a great sigh, glancing towards the kitchen door as Tiffany bumped it open with her hip, carrying our food.

"It's just this jerk at school." Both Daniel and I quietly thanked Tiffany as she set our breakfast in front of us and made herself scarce. Douglas wasn't far behind as they left us both to our breakfast in peace. I picked up my fork as I asked after this 'jerk'.

"Mr. Ford I presume?" Daniel's head snapped up to look at me in surprise before he rolled his eyes.

"Of course you already know." There was a pause as I finished what was in mouth and Daniel picked up his own utensils and took his first bite.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out Daniel. You were obviously upset when you got home from school yesterday. The staff were tip-toing around you was if you would start breathing fire when I got home. And William didn't waste any time in getting on your bad side, really it was only a matter of time." Daniel didn't say anything in response. It was quite as we both ate our breakfast. I watched out of the corner of my eye, as Daniel would twirl his fork around in his hand in between bites. He was obviously deep in thought about something. I could see the weight of it on his slumped shoulders. A frown found its place on my visage as I watched the emotions swirl through Daniel's eyes. Anger, uncertainty, guilt. Though he remained stubbornly silent. It seems as if that was all I was going to get out of him about the ordeal. The gentle clinking of our silverware against the ceramic of our plates was all that filled the room as I attempted to decipher what Daniel was thinking. Whatever he was keeping from me it was causing him a great deal of anxiety. Of course I wished he would share with me what was troubling him, but I could understand if he had no desire to. Really I had no right to ask the teen to divulge anything to me. It wasn't as if I had been exactly trustworthy in the past. Regardless I didn't like seeing him in such a state. He was supposed to be happy and carefree here in my home, not whatever he had worked himself up into. I eyed Daniel again as I opened my mouth to hopefully ease some of the teens worries.

"Well Daniel, I'm sure that whatever transpires between you and William it won't be a problem for long. When you want to be Daniel, you are truly a force to be reckoned with. All I ask is that you don't let yourself be trod upon. You do deserve more than that Daniel. You deserve so much more." I turned my attentions back to my breakfast as Daniel curiously looked at me and the heavy emotion I had let slip into my voice. After a moment I chanced a glance in Daniel's direction I could clearly see him smiling at his plate. The tension in his shoulders had eased somewhat. The sight brought a small grin to my own face. At least I could help the teen with something. From there we fell into a comfortable silence. We didn't really have much to talk about. When what Daniel did at school was "off limits", there really wasn't so much to say that the other didn't already know.

As usual I finished my smaller meal before Daniel and went to pick up the paper while he continued his meal. He wasn't far behind me this morning. Daniel had been growing at an alarming rate and didn't protest to the large meals anymore. He needed an enormous amount of caloric intake to support his growth spurt. The top of his head now rose to meet my collarbone, instead of the middle of my upper arm. He had grown all of about five inches in just under a month. I had already had his wardrobe completely replaced two times, due to his increasing size, so that his clothes would still fit properly. Remarkably I don't think he even noticed.

It was incredible that with his rapidly growing limbs he was even able to retain a semblance of coordination. Perhaps it was his ghost powers that kept him nimble, but I wasn't leaving anything to chance. As soon as Daniel had started taking the growth hormones before breakfast every morning, I had added an agility-centered aspect to our nightly training sessions. Anticipating the awkwardness that would accompany his new height, I wanted him to have adequate practice using his limbs. There were times when his new height would seem to catch up to him. He would under estimate his reach or his stride, but for the most part he was showing considerable grace. I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed. Though I continued to watch Daniel regardless of his success or failure. I wanted to be sure he was developing properly, though at an accelerated rate. I had to say he now looked more his age. I found it amusing that his voice hadn't yet deepened, especially when the rest of his body seemed to have developed as far.

I cast a superstitious glance over my paper as I heard Daniel's silverware make contact with his plate. I watched him exhale heavily, obviously full. He picked his napkin up and wiped his face. I raised my eyebrow, as there seemed to be a small shadow of something he had missed on his upper lip. I coughed to get Daniel's attention and discreetly picked up my own napkin to wipe my own face where he had still needed to clean himself. Realization dawned in his eyes and he picked up his own napkin again to scrub at his face. He put down his napkin, having now done a much more thorough job.

"Am I good?" I frowned as I saw the shadow was still there.

"No, try again." Daniel sighed and this time licked the area around his mouth before trying to get whatever was apparently glued to his face with syrup, to remove itself.

"How about now?" Now increasingly frustrated with the stain on Daniel's face, I leaned forward to take care of it myself.

"Daniel, just let me…" I trailed off as I moved closer to Daniel's face. Seeing me stop Daniel himself closed his mouth before he said anything. Undoubtedly stopping before he made some comment about how he wasn't a baby, or how I was acting like an old woman. That was not what had caught my interest however. I hesitated before slowly moved my hand up to lightly touch the side of Daniel's face so that I could move it to see the object of my irritation better. I didn't miss how Daniel slightly tensed at my movements, but not wanting to draw attention to it I merely continued in my actions. Lightly pushing Daniel's jaw back and forth, I examined his face. My eyes lit up with mirth, as my suspicions were proven correct.

My hand fell away from Daniel's head and I stood up properly. Maneuvering out of my chair, I started walking towards the entrance to the dining room. A plan already forming in my head.

"Come, Daniel." A wicked smirk played across my face at the teen's confusion. He hesitated, only standing halfway up out of his chair. Obviously annoyed at being ordered around so blatantly, as I knew he would be.

"Vlad what am I, your dog? What's going on? Is there something wrong?" Seeing that I was not stopping in my strides to answer his questions Daniel stood up out of his chair, although still hesitant to leave the table completely under the pretense that I had ordered him to do so. I didn't turn around to look at Daniel's undoubtedly confused face, as much as I wanted to. My answer to his queries was simple.

"No." I reached the door to the hallway and stepped through without opening it, turning right once I emerged. I was alone for a brief two seconds before Daniel appeared through the wall at my side. His footsteps softly thudding next to mine.

"Vlad seriously, you can't just order me around like that and expect me to obey you! I am not an animal." I spared the teen a glance as I turned left and my footsteps became audible against the black granite of one of the main hallways that ran through the house. I had to repress a chuckle of anticipation; Daniel genuinely had no clue what was going on. This was going to be exquisite. I replied to the teen's indignation.

"You followed, did you not?" Daniel made a noise of frustration.

"Well I couldn't just _not_ follow!" This made me raise an eyebrow as I made a U-turn to ascend a flight of stairs. I lightly placed my hand on the rail and glided up the steps, where Daniel jogged bouncily past me to the top. Daniel let out a small huff as he waited for me to get to the top of the stairs in a dignified manner. After I had reached the top of the stairs and continued forward without so much as a glance, he opened his mouth to question me further.

"At least tell me where we're going." Wanting to cause the teen as much distress as possible at the moment I remained silent. That and I wasn't entirely sure I could speak without breaking into a light chuckle over my newest _evil _plan. Only a small quirk of my lips betrayed my amusement. Daniel waited the space of a few moments before he let out a loud groan of frustration.

"Really Vlad, really? Is this _really_ necessary?" After another span of seconds Daniel exhaled as if exhausted. Obviously having figured out that I was not going to answer his direct questions. I had to pin the indifferent look firmly to my face as I listened to Daniel so that I would not give myself away. He started to ramble to himself; my footsteps once again disappeared into the carpet of the hallway I had turned left into.

"Woo-hoo the silent treatment. What, did we turn five yesterday? And you call me immature. Well just look at the example I have to follow. It's not like you could honestly expect much more of me… Hey I've never been down that way before where are you going?" I had turned right again into another hallway, this one was rather short, and had only one door in it, the one at the end. At seeing he hadn't been down the hallway before this point, Daniel stopped where I turned into it, hesitant to go anywhere new without some sort of reassurance. Still not hearing Daniel's footsteps as I was about to walk through the door, I composed myself, as not to look suspiciously giddy, and turned to give him an imploring look. My eyebrow rose as if asking him if he was too scared to follow. The light teasing worked and Daniel let out a groan before jogging lightly to my side. He came to a stop, a light glare on his face. My only response was to smirk before stepping through the door and into the master bedroom.

I knew Daniel had followed when I heard a whispered gasp.

"Holy shit." I abruptly turned to face Daniel, leveling him with a hard glare. He quickly stuttered to correct himself.

"I mean cow! Holy cow!" I shook my head in amusement before I turned and started walking towards another door that was against the wall to our left. Still repressing a giant grin of anticipation. I had forgotten that seeing my rooms would be a shock to the teen. I took a slow pace, humoring the poor boy and allowing him to examine my master bedroom.

To tell the truth I was rather proud of it. I'll admit, I had gone a little overboard, but I decided that if I could truly flaunt my wealth anywhere it might as well be where I was going to wake up every morning. The room was, for lack of a better term, huge. The area of the room came to about one thousand square feet. It's ceiling rested two stories above the floor. The floor itself was covered in a white, silk-fiber carpet, except of course where the glass pathway would snake through the room. Underneath the glass floor was what looked to be a rushing stream over a carefully arranged bed of river rocks. At night it was possible to light the inlaid waterway from bellow so that rays of light would dance on the ceiling. The wall that faced the outdoors was completely made of glass, so that the sunlight could stream in uninhibited every morning. With the click of a button next to the light switch I could darken the windows to black and back to translucence again. In the corners of the room touching the glass wall, were small plots of garden where I had had all number of flowers planted. There was a stone fireplace, along the wall to the left; I had left it unlit for now. There was a mantle above the fireplace, though it was bare, with no pictures or memorabilia on display. Surrounding the fireplace were large black leather chairs and a mahogany coffee table. The king size bed was at the opposite wall. The down comforter was a solid black with red and white pillows.

There was more to the room of course, hidden televisions, priceless paintings, diamond chandeliers, but those were minor details. I had made it to the door that would lead to the master bath and seeing that Daniel was still following, if still gaping at his surroundings, I continued to the bathroom. I phased myself through the wall only to hear a small 'thud' where Daniel should have phased through after me. I couldn't contain a snort of amusement as Daniel came through the wall looking ruffled, rubbing his forehead. The look of annoyance didn't last for long as he got a good look at my bathroom.

The main theme was black and brushed silver with earth accents. Instead of a shower or a tub, I had a waterfall. One hundred twenty gallons a minute would gush over the top of the rock ledge and into the stone basin bellow. Depending on whether I felt like it the basin could be allowed to fill, to create a tub, or the water would drain away, maintaining it's function as a shower. The two sinks along the wall were bowls of glass that sat on the black granite countertop. The mirror above the sinks took up the entire wall above the counter. Unassumingly along the wall between the waterfall and the sinks was the toilet, not drawing too much attention to itself. Along the remaining wall space were the door to my closet, shelves filled with soaps and candles, along with several stacks of towels.

My shoes clicked against the shale tile floor as I made my way over to the sink I used every day. I looked thoughtfully at the cupboards bellow the sink before I picked one to start the search for the items I would need.

"Vlad, is that a waterfall?" A flicker of a smile escaped me, as my head was hidden in the cupboard. Not pausing in my movements I answered Daniel's question. By the sound of it he had moved more towards the shower to explore. I closed the cupboard I had opened, finding only cleaning supplies there.

"Yes Daniel that would be a waterfall." As I searched through another cupboard, shoving aside cotton balls and q-tips, Daniel became silent. I wondered if he was working up the courage to actually turn it on. That could be quite amusing. I had to focus on steadying my breathing for a moment as visions of Daniel, soaking wet and a look of complete surprise on his face, flashed across my minds eye. Not finding what I needed I closed this cupboard as well and moved to the next one.

As I searched through the third cupboard I heard Daniel walk slowly around the room. I heard a door open and shut, indicating Daniel had found my closet. After another moment he must have been satisfied because his footsteps wandered over towards where I was crouched by the sinks. Not finding what I needed here either I closed that cupboard and opened the next one.

"What are you looking for?" I ignored Daniel's question and shoved aside a box of toothpaste to reveal what I had been looking for. I quickly grabbed one of everything Daniel was going to need and stood. Shutting the cupboard with my foot I thrust all of what I had grabbed into Daniel's unsuspecting arms with a beaming smile I simply could not hold back anymore. It was time to put my latest plot into action.

"There you go little badger." Daniel struggled to get a hold of everything "I'll just be waiting in the bedroom then. If you need more of anything, go ahead and help yourself." Daniel just stared at what was in his arms, completely gob smacked. Before Daniel had the chance to look up and ask me anything I silently teleported back to the bedroom, leaving him to assume I had left him to fend for himself.

"_WHAT THE HECK VLAD!" _I had only just reappeared in the middle of the bedroom when I heard Daniel's yell echo around the bathroom. I could not contain myself any longer. I burst into loud hearty laughter; unable to suck in air I bent over, clutching my stomach. Oh poor Daniel, he had absolutely no idea what to do! I felt my face get red and hot, as I laughed harder than I had laughed in a long while. The pressure built up behind my eyes as tears leaked from the corners. I was so lost in my humor I didn't hear Daniel come to stand in front of me, still carrying what I had thrust into his arms.

"Vlad, explain yourself. What the heck do you want me to do with this?" I had stumbled to the edge of the bed sitting myself down so I could recover from my laughing fit. At seeing Daniel's face, red with embarrassment I broke again into breathless laughter. I was right he was completely clueless! Oh the poor boy, but his face was just too good to pass up. I could only keep up my hysterics for a few seconds before my very real need for oxygen overruled the need to laugh. As I sucked in air once more I coughed roughly into my fist; my lungs obviously tired from the strain they had just been under. I gathered myself together before I tried to look at Daniel again. Desperately trying to ignore his cheeks, which were still red with embarrassment, or that hilariously adorable 'accusing' look in his eye. Daniel repeated his earlier question.

"Vlad, what do you want me to do with this?" I didn't even try to hide the large beaming smile that crept onto my face. I cleared my throat as I answered in a mock serious voice. Oh I was having far too much fun to give up my little game now.

"Well Daniel, I thought that much would be obvious. What else are you supposed to do with a razor, shaving cream, and after shave?" I had to concentrate on my breathing as not to break into laughter again when Daniel looked at me as if he were completely scandalized. You would have thought I had suggested he assemble the mansion staff and parade in front of them completely naked.

"I'm not stupid! I know you're supposed to use this stuff to shave!" I nodded and crossed my legs, placing my hands patiently on my knees, as if I were dealing with a small child.

"Well then I don't see what the problem is," I waved my hand, shoo-ing him back to the bathroom, "go and do the deed then." I had to stifle another snort of laughter as Daniel just looked as if he were about to break down into desperate pleas of mercy.

"You want me to just… do it? What is even the point of this, I don't have any facial hair yet!" Daniel was starting to seem genuinely distressed as he struggled to gesture with the three items in his hand. I shook my head, still smiling like an idiot. All right I suppose I had dragged this on long enough. The boy looked as if he were about to have a mental breakdown if he didn't receive some sort of reassurance soon. Standing up I put my arm around Daniel as I guided him back to the bathroom. Daniel's shoulders stiffened as I rested my arm there. The action gave me pause; Daniel had not reacted like this to my close presence in a long while. Seeds of worry were sewn at the reemergence of the reflex.

"Daniel, you obviously did not look very closely in the mirror this morning. Yes, despite yourself you do have a few spots of peach fuzz that will need attending to, especially because your hair is such a dark color. Now come, I'll help you get started and you can take things from there." As I phased us through the door and into the bathroom once more Daniel sent me a hard glare, seeing that I was done with my fun and was now going to take his plight seriously. I sighed in defeat. I had not wanted to make the teen overly angry with my little act, just sufficiently embarrassed and frustrated. I didn't want the teen truly cross with me. He had a sibling though. Surely he knew the difference between true cruelty and harmless teasing?

"Daniel I was only teasing. I'm not going to abandon you in the bathroom with a razor and expect you to know what you were doing." My arm fell from Daniel's shoulder as he turned to face the counter so that he could relive himself of his burden, "You didn't seriously believe I would expect you to automatically know how to do this sort of thing?" As Daniel was putting everything on the counter he turned and raised his eyebrow at me accusingly. Tendrils of dread started to coil around my stomach. Perhaps he would think that. I had been his 'archenemy' for a long while before we had come to this arrangement. I had thought Daniel would understand that I was only participating in some jocular ribbing. I had not considered he might take my actions seriously. What had I done? Because of my idiotic impulse to have a little fun with the teen, I had ruined much of the trust I had been building with him for the past month.

I wouldn't resign myself to this yet, I couldn't. I only had to make sure he didn't take this the wrong way and we could pretend this had never happened. As Daniel continued to put everything on the counter I straitened myself up and pulled my shoulders back, trying to convey to him the sincerity of my good intentions. "Daniel I apologize for my previous behavior. It was uncalled for and inappropriate. I would be honored if you would allow me to assist you in this, despite my misconduct." It was now my turn to be confused as my words gained me a small laugh from Daniel. His shoulders shook briefly before he turned to face me. He looked up at me his eyes shining with disbelief and humor. What on earth was so funny? I had just made him extremely upset and he thought my apology was humorous? Just how far backward had I managed to go with my little stunt?

"Vlad it's okay. Seriously. I'm not really mad at you." Daniel only laughed again when I let some of my confusion show on my face. "I just didn't think it was going to be that easy to give you the guilt trip. It usually takes me at least a minute to fool Jazz into thinking that I'm mad. Who knew you were such a softy!" I scowled playfully to cover up the overwhelming relief that uncoiled in my chest before I let a smirk slide its way back to my face. Pride for Daniel's clever retaliation swelled slightly despite myself. Daniel was becoming more and more like me every day. I suppose I would let this one slide. I couldn't expect to 'dish it out' without receiving some in return, after all.

"Only for you Daniel. If I were you I would be grateful and not tease me about such things. I could have made things much more interesting and continued with my families tradition of making you learn with a straight razor." I curiously picked up the disposable razor I had hunted for, examining it carefully before putting it back on the counter. I never used them, but for some reason the staff saw fit to stock my every bathroom with them. I supposed for the convenience of my guests. I looked back to Daniel after I had put the razor down only to find a look of confusion on his face.

"What the heck is a straight razor?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I knew it had fallen out of practice within the last century but surely he would still know what a straight razor was? Apparently not. Rather than explain what I was talking about I reached over to the drawer I used every morning and pulled out my own razor. I held the elegantly carved pearl handle in my left hand and pulled the knife open with my right. The single blade gleamed in the light of the room. I set it down on the counter for Daniel to inspect.

"That, my dear Daniel, is a straight razor." His eyes widened momentarily at the sight of the blade before he looked up to me.

"You shave with that… thing? How have you not completely filleted your face off!" I raised my eyebrows again with a small huff of amusement. I deigned to leave the razor out for a moment. Daniel was smart enough not touch the sharp blade. I didn't miss Daniel's curious glances either. I would allow him to inspect the blade a moment longer. Shifted my weight and leaned against the counter as I prepared to answer the questions that would inevitably be asked.

"Daniel, men were shaving with nothing but a blade like this centuries before these disposable razors came along. It is only recently that the custom has fallen out of practice. It's not as if the task of shaving with a straight razor is so dangerous that it's inconvenient." Daniel looked at me thoughtfully, carefully soaking in what I had to say. He thoroughly inspected the instrument on the counter, leaning forward. He looked up to me, asking with his eyes if he could pick it up. I looked at the blade for a moment, considering. The teen had dealt with far more dangerous things I suppose. I let him proceed to pick it up with a small nod and a warning.

"Do be careful, it's rather sharp. I just honed the blade yesterday." I could almost feel Daniel resist the urge to roll his eyes at my caution. I decided to ignore his insolence, since he _had_ managed to refrain from showing it. I watched as he picked up the blade and ran his had over the carvings of various sea monsters and helpless ships on the handle. He flipped it over and over, seemingly fascinated with the instrument. I was quite intrigued by this little development. I had not anticipated he would be so interested in my razor. I of course, had grown up with such things. I suppose if Jack was still using those ridiculously obnoxious electric razors as he had in college, then Daniel might be quite unfamiliar with anything that didn't plug into a wall. I waited patiently for him to finish his inspection of my razor. Carefully he put the razor back on the counter, as he did so he spoke.

"You said your Dad made you learn how to shave with this? Why? And if you didn't like it why didn't you just switch to a regular razor when you moved out?" I sighed. It wasn't that I was averse to telling Daniel about my decision to keep using a straight razor, even after I was not forced to do so by my father, it was just that I hated the fact that I had learned something useful form my idiot father in the first place. I crossed my arms over my chest and prepared to dredge up some of the memories I had managed to keep buried for some long years.

"I did, for a while in college, as that was the first time I had been away from my parents and would thus allow me to try a disposable razor like everyone else. The truth is that I can get a much better shave with this," I motioned to the razor on the counter, "than I can with any electric or disposable razor. I simply wasn't satisfied with the results I got from the disposable razor so I switched back. Even if I hadn't wanted to learn to shave with a straight razor at first, it did prove a useful skill to have. All the 'guys' were always _so impressed _that I could shave with one, and not completely massacre myself, as you so eloquently described earlier. Especially when I started to build my financial empire, the superior shave was one of the things that made a difference. People notice those sorts of things. A shave with a straight razor like this will last you the entire day so you don't get any of this five o'clock shadow nonsense. It's also far easier to trim around any beard or mustache with a straight razor than with a disposable one." I absently reached up to stroke my goatee. I could be incredibly precise with a straight razor that was for sure. My father had been firmly under the notion that any respectable young man under the age of thirty wouldn't dare sport any sort of beard or mustache. Of course when I initially moved out, before the portal accident, I had shared my fathers sentiment, or at least respected it enough not to have a beard of my own. That of course had changed after he had made it clear that he no longer desired a son if it meant it was a half dead one. I was startled out of my thoughts when Daniel questioned me further.

"You know this straight razor business doesn't sound so bad to me. I mean it's like you said, guys were doing it like this way before the disposable or the electric razor came along, so they had to be doing something right. I think its kind of cool that in your family they decided to pass something like this down. It actually sounds like a cool tradition to have." I rolled my eyes at that comment. If only he knew. Though I suppose Daniel really didn't. He knew nothing of my father or his often-overzealous ways. Learning this particular skill from my father had not been high up on my to do list when I had been Daniel's age. Daniel noticed my disagreement with his sentiment and commented on it, "Why were you so against learning to shave with a straight razor anyway? You make it sound like it was better to have learned in the end." I idly picked up the straight razor that was lying on the counter. I closed it so the blade was tucked away and spun it around in my fingers as I became more lost in the memory of my father and his insistence that I learn to shave with the damned thing.

"Well Daniel, my father happened to be a very loud and boisterous man. He expected that when you tried something new, it wouldn't take you long to catch on. He had a very bad habit of expressing his opinion of your efforts loudly as well. I personally, was not looking forward to being yelled at for my confusion when I was holding a knife to my face. For another reason, I got 'the speech' before my father taught me how to wield a razor properly. Not exactly encouraging words to hear before you're about to put an open blade to your face either." I shook my head at the ridiculousness of 'the speech'. I still remembered it. My father had made me memorize it too, so that when I had my own son I could give 'the speech' to him when he was old enough, just like every other man in the Zavoevyvat lineage who had had the very same honor of being passed down the family straight razor. Daniel only crossed his arms over his chest and gave me an imploring look when he saw that I only thought the idea of this particular tradition was ridiculous.

"The speech?" He asked. Then he had the gall to raise his eyebrows at me. I sighed. Daniel must be rubbing off on me. Why exactly had I shared that unnecessary information?

"Yes Daniel 'The Speech'. Now come, enough of this chitchat, we do have places to go today. I truly don't mind arriving to work late, or calling you in, but we really must get moving." I stilled the razor in my hand as I had been fidgeting with it previously. I moved to put it back in it's place in the drawer when I was stopped by Daniels amused voice.  
"Nu-uh no way, you have to tell me now. Go on Vlad let's here this 'Speech' that had you petrified of shaving with a straight razor." I turned back to Daniel with a light glare.

"I was not _petrified. _Nauseous if anything really." Daniel only smirked at me. He really wasn't going to let this lie was he?

"Well then it obviously can't be that bad. Common Vlad let's hear it." I gave Daniel a disbelieving look. I might just go ahead and give him what he wanted if he wasn't careful.

"You want to hear 'The Speech'." This time he did not restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

"Yes Vlad, I want to hear the speech." I drew in a breath letting it out in a huff as if Daniel had just consigned himself to doing something very stupid, which he had. I would be kidding myself though, if I said I was not interested in what his reaction would be. I was not going to lower myself to such ridiculous behavior without something in it for my own gain, and Daniel's reaction would be priceless. Though I mostly justified my next actions by saying he had asked for it.

"Very well Daniel, you wanted a speech, it is a speech you shall get." Daniel raised his eyebrows at me as I rolled my shoulders and coughed a few times, warming up the back of my throat. I could not believe I was actually doing this. I was truly in a mischievous mood if I was willing to do even this for some sort of convoluted amusement. Setting the straight razor back on the counter for latter, I drew back my lips in a snarl. The words that came spitting out of my mouth were in a heavy Russian accent.

"Are you a man ov zee Zavoevyvat decent?" Daniel laughed silently, eyebrows raised in speculation, but made no indication he was going to answer the question. Huh, funny, the same mistake I had made. I slammed my hand down on the counter, yelling my next words, practically spitting fire. I leaned forward getting in his face.

"DID ZAT SOUND LIKE A JSHOKE TO YOU BOY? I ASK YOU A QKUEVSTION!" Daniel recoiled his eyes wide. I only leaned forward further, my voice returning to a normal volume.

"I ask you again. Are you a man?" Daniel nodded his head.

"Are you ov zee Zavoevyvat decent?" Daniel started to shake his head no, because he really wasn't of the Zavoevyvat line, but stopped unsure if he would be yelled at for his negative answer. I sighed breaking character for a moment.

"Daniel just nod your head." He looked at me confused before he slowly nodded his head; I gave him a curt nod before I was back in full swing.

"Zen you vill be using zee blade vurthy of a Russian man!" I quickly picked up the disposable razor, waving it pathetically in front of his face. "How long have dis been in hour family?" Daniel started to stutter, shrugging his shoulders.

"I-I don't-"

"I buy dis yesterday you stupid boy! DIS!" I brought my other hand up to snap the plastic handle of the razor in half, inches from the tip of his nose. "MEANS NOZING!" I threw the pieces of the razor over the boy's shoulders. Still standing closer than was necessary I swiped the straight razor off of the counter. With a flick of my wrist the blade of the razor was gleaming inches from the boy's nose.

"How long have dis been in hour family?" Daniel didn't even attempt to answer, his eyes glued to the razor in pure terror. Quickly realizing my mistake in wielding the blade so close to the teen, I tried to salvage the boy's piece of mind, flicking the razor closed, hoping beyond hope that I hadn't lost him in my thoughtlessness. I could see the relief flood his eyes as the blade disappeared; his face returning to its previously confused and slightly anxious state. Deeming it safe I continued. Of course yelling, just to keep his attention.

"TVENTY TREE GENARATIONS!" I leaned closer as I slammed the razor back down on the counter. Leaving it there so that I wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Tventy tree generations of Zavoevyvat men has used dis blade." I pinned Daniel with my gaze as I got to the best part. I had him completely in my clutches as I spoke. "Your many simes great grandfather Gennadi, he cut off man's ear vith this blade, ven man try to steal his prize bull. Your uther grandfather, Mavati, he kill a man vith ziss blade, who try to rob his home. Cut zee troat clean open. De blood ruins his best shirt. Your greater grandfather still, Yustin, he skin entire bear vith ziss blade, for he has no uther blade to use. He make blanket for his dying family, uthervise they freeze to death in zee vinter ov zee century." I paused for dramatic effect, just as it had been done for the past twenty-three generations. Slowly leaning back away from the uncomfortably close proximity to Daniel that I had obtained "So you claim to be a man of Zaveovyvat decent. Zen you vill use zee blade of your forefathers. Like a real _Russian_ _man_." I held Daniel's gaze for an endless moment before I smirked and stood up fully. Stepping back so that I wasn't invading his personal space any longer. I had been literally breathing on his face at some of the more intense moments. I waited for his reaction eager to see what he would think of the ridiculous tradition now. As I moved away he blinked rapidly, a hopelessly confused look on his face. Of course when he finally did get around to saying something, I wasn't disappointed with what came out of his mouth.

"So wait, you're Russian?" There was a 'smack' as my hand made contact with my face. Of course he wouldn't say anything about the _murder_ or the ridiculous _bear. _He would focus on the fact that I was _Russian._ Tiredly I dragged my hand down my face.

"No Daniel, my parents named me _Vladimir_ because they fancied a nice Dutch name. Yes Daniel, I'm Russian! I also speak fluent Russian and took yearly vacations from the ages of five to eighteen to see my grandparents in 'the motherland'. Zavoevyvat is actually Russian for 'conquer' and was mistranslated by the immigration office when my family immigrated to America to mean Masters. Does that satisfy your curiosity?" Daniel's head shot back and he brought his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Whoa, okay sorry! I just never really thought about it before and it took me off guard." I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose. I really hadn't meant to snap. This was certainly turning out to be a very interesting morning.

"No Daniel, it's fine." I massaged my temples for a moment. Taking the time to cool down and remind myself that I didn't have to be defined by my family history. When I was sufficiently cooled down I chuckled lightly and brought my gaze up to meet Daniel's.

"You didn't think any of that nonsense about the murder, or skinning a bear was completely ridiculous?" Daniel shrugged and shot me a lopsided grin.

"Well, my ancestors fought ghosts using flowers. And better yet, were successful. At least your family history is somewhat manly and based out of some semblance of sanity." A loud echoing laugh escaped my mouth at Daniel's sentiment. It was made all the sweeter because what he had said was true. As I wound myself down I realized that Daniel had been laughing with me. His face was also red from lack of oxygen. The realization renewed the smile on my face. I clapped Daniel lightly on the shoulder, giving him an affectionate squeeze, and started moving to put my straight razor away.

"Alright Daniel that's enough. I think it's time we-" I was stopped from moving away by a hand on my arm. I turned to face Daniel again, my eyes confused. His, in contrast were shining with mischief and adventure.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to show me how to shave like a real 'Russian man'?" He couldn't keep the laugh out of his voice as he got to the end of his question. I smirked lightly at his inability to compose himself, though now I understood why he had stopped me. He had misunderstood me and thought that I was going to force him to learn to shave with the straight razor because he knew that I wanted him as a son. My eyes saddened somewhat, realizing again that Daniel may be living with me willingly, but he still didn't see me as a father like I saw him as my son. I opened my mouth to explain to Daniel that I wasn't going to force him to do anything.

"Daniel, you don't really have to-"

"I know, I want to." I stopped speaking and any emotion that I had been displaying on my face immediately dropped off. I bored my eyes into Daniel, trying to process what he had said. 'He wanted to?' Why? He obviously knew that he didn't have to. I closed my eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut before I opened them and really looked at Daniel. He had let his hand fall from my arm. A hesitant, but gentle smile was playing across his lips. His eyes were full of nothing but nervousness and sincerity. A slight blush had colored his cheeks from embarrassment or nerves. I tried desperately to figure out what would posses Daniel to want to learn how shave with a straight razor. I had just specifically articulated to him that this was a tradition taught from father to son in my family, wouldn't he want to stay away from anything that put him in the role of 'my son' outside of what was necessary? There was no one here to fool, no disguise to keep up, why would he want to do this with me if it put him in a position I knew he didn't want to be in? I simply could not wrap my mind around the fact that Daniel would willingly do such a thing. There had to be a better reason. I stared at Daniel, searching him for an answer. When I found none obviously on his person I was forced to ask.

"Why?" His smile gained confidence when he saw that my silence had only been because of my confusion. He easily answered, as if the reason for his want was the most obvious in the world.

"Well you already said that a straight razor gives you a better shave then a disposable one. Why would I settle when I've got someone here who can teach me to do it a better way? Besides, you already went through the trouble of giving me 'The Speech' it'd almost be a shame if it went to waste." Still not really processing what the teen was saying I continued to stare for a moment. There was no feasible way that Daniel did not understand the implications of what he was suggesting would mean. He was not a stupid boy; he had to know what this meant. What this would mean to me.

"You're completely sure Daniel?" Daniel's face, which had fallen once again in my silence, brightened once more.

"Am I sure I want to be able to show off to everyone when I'm in college that I can shave with a straight razor? Yeah, I'm sure." He sent one of those cheeky little smirks at me, causing me to shake my head. I paused and turned away from the teen, staring down into the sink as thoughts finally started filtering through my brain. This was happening and Daniel was still standing next to me, patiently waiting. I turned, this time leaving the straight razor on the counter. I got out the brush, cup, and cream we would need from the drawer I had opened earlier.

"Very well, let's get started then." I shut the drawer, having gotten what I needed, and looked back up to Daniel. His face was red, from embarrassment or nerves I'm not sure. However I did know that mine was just as red. I opened my mouth as I set everything we would need out on the counter. "First rule of shaving with a straight razor: _never, _drag the razor across your face that's in a motion parallel to the length of the blade." Daniel scoffed, ignoring the previous discomfort just as I was.

"Oh come on Vlad I'm not stupid! I'm not going to deliberately slash a knife across my face!" I shook my head as I prepared to show Daniel how to make his own lather.

"You'd be surprised Daniel, you'd be surprised."


	43. Chapter 43: Who Ya Gonna Call?

AN:/ Alright guys. I know it's late and i know it's short, but i did get it to you didn't I? It's just that...Guys, as break comes to an end, and I go into my second semester of college, you probably won't be seeing any updates until school gets out again. I just can't afford to divide my attention between this and everything else like I did last semester. it definitely did not bode well for my grades when I did. I can't afford to do that anymore. When I get the chance, or when the urge takes me I will work on this, of course, but i can't afford to worry about updating this like I did last semester. So updates are probably going to slow way down again. I'm sorry guys I have just got to get my grades up and this is one of the sacrifices I am going to have to make. As much as i would prefer to write fanfiction all day... I hesitate to say i'm putting this on hiatus, because a lot of stories that go on hiatus never go off, and I don't' want that to happen to this. Plus it's not like I will halt working on this completely, I'm just not going to be working on it near as much. So yeah, sorry, but this is probably the last bit of update you are probably going to be getting for a while.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 43: Who Ya Gonna Call?

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Thursday, January 5, 2012, 12:06AM_

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**NOTICE:** So I created my first ever poll and I was hoping you guys would check it out. I wasn't sure how to deal with the fate of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton in a way that wouldn't offend too many people, so I decided to put it up to a vote, to gauge your reactions. You can go to my profile page and cast your vote to decide what will end up happening to the pair. the more votes I have, obviously, the better Idea i will have of what you guys think about what the Elder Fenton's deserve. So please, cast your vote! (though i may advise waiting until you have read this chapter first. it might change your opinion)

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**Third Person**

The parking lot to the indoor child's play-place, "Playworld" was eerily vacant. A parking lot that was usually loaded with minivans and SUV's was completely empty save for a creepy white Van and the all too recognizable Fenton Assault Vehicle. A man, shaved bald as was required for a serviceman in the Guys in White division, spoke curtly as he addressed Jack and Maddie Fenton, the nations top Ghost experts.

"Are you sure you want to go in there alone. I have three units standing by, ready for you to give the signal." The odd ghost hunting couple did not smile or show any form of reassurance toward the concerned GIW officer. When in public Jack and Maddie Fenton refrained from showing any sort of emotion. They were merely drones in needlessly bright colored jump suits. To anyone who had known the Ghost Hunting pair before their son had gone mysteriously missing, the change in their demeanor was startling. Maddie spoke for both herself and her husband in a voice devoid of any emotion.

"As we have previously explained, we simply can't risk your interference in this operation. Your men will be more of a hindrance than an asset in this situation. They are not properly trained or experienced in the capture of ghosts this powerful." Perhaps a week ago the GIW agent might have baulked at the claim that his men were anything less than the best in the nation. He would have vigorously denied any claim that the Fenton's could have been any help to them in the Ghost crisis they had been sent to avert. But this GIW agent knew better. He and his men had gone up against an invasion of possessed objects that was not in their skill set to deal with and been at the mercy of the Fenton's skill to get them out alive. This GIW agent knew when to defer to those of superior capabilities, and the ghost that haunted this building was more powerful than anything they had seen in the area yet. The agent spoke up again, still wary of sending the odd couple into the situation alone, despite their expertise.

"You know we are here for back-up. This ghost has already sent a child to the hospital with a completely crushed rib cage. We can't lose you on this operation." Jack spoke this time, getting tired of the agent's antics.

"We'll be fine, you are not in danger of losing us or our skills to this operation. Maddie, let's move." Jack looked down to his wife, disregarding what the agent had to say after that point. If he was only going to spout off some nonsense about how he wasn't safe or how what he was about to do was dangerous, he didn't particularly feel the need to listen. How could his safety matter anyway, with the safety of his own son in question? Jack could care less about the assurance of his own personal existence until his son was back within his arms, completely safe and rid of any ghost parasite that had been leeching off of him for the past two years. Maddie gave her husband a curt nod before she closed the trunk of the Fenton Assault Vehicle.

Without a word the depressed couple moved across the parking lot towards the "Playworld" that they had been dispatched to clean out. They jogged to the opposite sides of the glass doors at the front of the building. Pressing themselves against the brick walls on either side of the glass doors they made eye contact before they both jumped in front of the glass with a short yell, guns drawn and ready to fire.

Nothing was on the other side of the glass, however. With another nod to one another they preceded their way through the door, Jack first, because if there were an attack his considerable girth would be able to block Maddie, who would be able to get them out after the first surprise attack.

They preceded this way deeper and deeper into the child's indoor play area. Checking their surroundings before jumping into view, guns drawn. They had moved past the pizza counter, and the ice cream shop, though the maze of toddler-sized slides and climbing structures, and were coming upon the ball pit in the center of the play place.

Floating there in the corner of the ball pit was a particularly distraught ghost. He wore Pajama's with blue and white stripes and was known for his particularly fierce bear hug. He had wandered into the Human World through the Fenton Portal not too long ago. He had heard that the young halfa who usually guarded the area was gone. Plasmius, he knew of course, had ordered that all ghosts not hurt the younger halfa anymore. But that didn't mean that Amity Park, his old haunt, was off limits. This particular ghost had decided that it would try its luck in the abandon territory. The territory he had claimed for himself previously was cold and desolate, and there was nobody there that he could try to be friends with. He decided that even if Phantom came back, that the halfa wouldn't mind his presence. All he wanted was to see was if the humans would want to be friends more than the ghosts in the Ghost Zone had.

He had been happy at first; the smaller humans that hung out in this building had not seemed to mind him. They had been curious and were accepting of his request to be friendly. The ghost had smiled and clapped and played with the tiny humans for all of three hours before the larger humans had come and destroyed everything. The ghost had been in the process of hugging one of his new friends when a shriek had been heard.

A pudgy woman had, reluctantly, crawled through the maze of tubes that surrounded the ball pit when her child had refused to come out to her call. When the woman had shrieked she had run, as well as she could through the ball pit, to the ghost who was clutching her child. Terrified that the specter would do something to her precious baby boy. The woman had predictably started prying at the ghost's arms when it had refused to let go of her child. Screaming at it to release her child at once and to never come near her or this town again.

Confused and sad with the situation the larger human was proposing the ghost had only squeezed the smaller human tighter in it's grasp. He had just found his new friends he did not want to let them go! He had squeezed tighter and tighter the more the larger human yelled at him. The ghost did not see the tears that were streaming down his new friends face, or see his small friend gasp for breath and turn a rather interesting shade of purple.

Hearing all of the shrieking, the woman's Husband had decided to come through to the ball pit, decidedly worried. There he found his frantic wife and his son, unconscious in a ghost's arms. The situation, now that it was clear to the Father and Husband, came to a very abrupt head. The father leaped agily through the shallow ball pit and towards his struggling family. Putting all of his 250 pounds behind his fist he plowed his into the ghosts still solid face. The force was enough to disorient the ghost so that his wife could free the small child and they could make their escape back through the small maze of tubes.

When the ghost had finally reoriented itself it had looked around to realize that it was alone again. Breaking down into tears, it resigned itself to the fact that even here in the human world no one wanted to be his friend. And so he had floated there, and wallowed in his despair, until now.

Now the ghost heard a small creak as he floated amongst the questionably sanitary rainbow spheres. Despite himself he felt a small flicker of hope. Had someone come back to see him? Was there finally someone who wanted to be his companion?

Maddie crawled through the tubes that would lead her to the center of the play area and subsequently the ball pit. Jack had been left behind at the entrance of the maze of tubes. He was simply too large to fit through the tunnels. Without her Husband, Maddie was forced to be extremely alert as she approached the dangerous situation. However the woman could not bring herself to be afraid of the vermin she was set to hunt. No Maddie was too overcome with anger at the vile phenomenon that had ruined her family. There was no room left for fear.

Maddie could see the end of the tunnel now, where it fed into the ball pit. She involuntarily shivered as she became accustom to the slight temperature drop caused by the ghost's presence within. This ghost inevitably had a cold core. With careful movements she reached for the thermos on her belt, with a small 'click' it was out of its clip and into her hand.

For the most part, the thermos appeared to be its usual self. Nothing betrayed the changes that had been made to it besides the handle that had been added to the cap. So that if it were a real thermos, the cap could have been used as a cup to drink out of.

Maddie slowly screwed off the lid and snapped it on the bottom. She took a deep breath. This capture was all going to be about being able to aim quickly once she was within range. Maddie shifted her weight and sat carefully down at the top of the slide that would take her into the ghost's perimeter. With her feet pointed out in front of her she gripped the sides of the tunnel with her hands, the thermos snuggly between her legs. Silently and with as much force as she could manage, she threw herself down the slide. She came shooting out the end and landed with an 'oomph' on her but in the middle of the shallow ball pit. In the time it took Maddie to grab the thermos still clutched between her legs, the ghost in question had turned around and asked what it always did when it met someone new.

"Will you be my friend?" There was the short whine of the thermos powering up and light shot out of the end of the soup thermos in Maddie's hand. The ghost tried to resist, it started to howl and cry as it recognized the thermos Phantom had used on it multiple times before. It did not like being in the cramped space. But of course its efforts were futile. It ended up being sucked in anyway.

With the 'swish swish click' of the cap being screwed back on, the ghost's fate was sealed. Maddie did something she rarely did anymore as she crawled back through the maze of toddler-sized tunnels and back to her husband. She smiled.

Jack saw his wife come through the tunnel opening with thee thermos in her hand and couldn't help but smile himself. He couldn't wait to see how the new thermos had worked. It had taken them days to figure out how to get it right and if it were successful it would be an essential addition to their arsenal of ghost weapons.

Jack and Maddie hurriedly walked back to their Assault Vehicle with their precious cargo. They waved off the GIW agent concerned about their health, only informing him that the building was cleared before they peeled out of the parking lot and back towards home. They rushed inside and thundered down the steps once they had pulled into the driveway.

Quickly the duo set up the usual ghost shield around the lab so that anything ghostly wouldn't be able to get in or out once they opened the thermos. When the pair deemed they were sufficiently sealed and protected from the outside world they slowly went back over to the counter where they had put the thermos. Maddie saw her husband's fingers twitching and acted on it.

"You do the honors sweetie. It was your idea in the first place." Jack didn't even bother to respond, only getting out a shout of excitement with a beaming smile before he snatched the container off the counter, quickly unscrewing the cap.

When the cap was off and nothing came out Jacks eyes only got wide, when he peeked inside and saw the contents. He let out a whoop of joy and started to dance around. Of course with the thermos still in his hand. Maddie was happy for her husband, but based on her husband's reaction they need what was inside extremely badly and they couldn't afford to spill any of it.

"Jack don't spill!" Not waiting for Jack to calm down by himself Maddie snatched the thermos out of Jack's hand and held onto it herself. She walked back over to the counter, picking up the cap that had fallen to the floor on the way. Setting the cap on the counter she gently tipped the thermos so that what was inside would fall into the cup.

Slowly, like cold syrup, a glowing green liquid spilled from the thermos. It only stopped coming when the cap to the thermos was half full. There had to have been at least a full 8 tablespoons of the green goo, even as the remnants of it slowly dripped from the thermos. Once the substance was completely within the cap of the thermos Maddie carried it over to a larger five gallon container that held more of the same glowing green goop. Maddie then poured in what she had collected; bringing the level of the substance up to the halfway mark that had been drawn on the glass cylinder.

* * *

Ember was not a ghost who was picky about whom she associated with. Pretty much, if they said her name enough, she was cool with whoever wanted to chill with her. Klemper, however, was the exception to this rule. The goddamned lunatic would just not leave her alone! So when the stupid oaf didn't show up at her door for a couple of days, asking if she would be his friend, she counted it as a blessing and moved on. After a week though she was getting curious. She wasn't calling it worry, because it wasn't. I mean who would be worried about that annoying glob of insecurity, even if he had showed up to all of her concerts and had said he liked all of her songs and had helped her when she threw her back out once. No she was not worried about the idiot. Just curious as to where he was.

So that was how she had ended up at Kitty and Johnny's place. Kitty loved having Ember over now that Johnny was working for Plasmius. Ember had to admit that their standard of living had definitely gotten better now that Johnny had a steady income, and she didn't much mind coming to Kitty's place anymore. The real reason she was there though was that Kitty was a well of gossip. If there was anyone who knew where Klemper was, it was Kitty. Ember popped open a can of RockStar that Kitty had handed to her.

"Hey, Kat, you haven't seen Klemper lately have you? I'm not complaining of course, I was just wondering where he was. He hasn't show up at my place for a while." Kitty sipped on her own cup of coffee. She gave Ember a knowing look over the rim before she brought her mug down to respond.

"I'm sorry Ember I don't know where he is. You don't need to worry though; he's bound to turn up at some point. That boy will make you admit he is your friend if it takes till the end of eternity." Ember grumbled and retorted that she was not _worried_. Just curious! Conversation moved past the subject after some lighter teasing; quickly being dismissed as unimportant.

Because it wasn't, Ember told herself. She didn't care about the lump. So what if he didn't show up for a couple of days that didn't mean anything. And if it did it wasn't like she cared. No Ember wasn't worried at all. In fact she was relived that the stupid guy had decided to give her a break…

Then why couldn't she seem to shake the feeling that something was terribly, _terribly_ wrong?

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_pst... don't forget about the poll!_


	44. Chapter 44: Let's Put a Smile on That Fa

AN:/ I updated? I dunno guys if I should have waited for this one. I feel like I could have made it better with more detail and stuff but I was honestly getting really bored with this chapter. I don't know. I feel like it isnt' up to par with the rest of my chapters, but that you guys might be distracted enough with what is going on not to notice. *sigh* I don't know. I just don't know. maybe one day i'll go back and fix it. but I just wanted to post, because I haven't in a long time and I miss getting reviews. By the way I am on a batman high, at the moment. I have recently become obsessed with the Dark Knight so that would explain the title. And I think you'll get it more once you read the chapter. If you haven't noticed by now my titles tend to hint at something that happens in the chapter. anyway, just yeah. I don't think the chapter is very good, but I am just so so tired of sitting on it and nitpicking at it.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 44: Let's Put a Smile on That Face

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Thursday, February 23, 2012, 6:39PM_

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**Danny's POV.**

I floated out of the limo, intangible and invisible. My other self went through my regular routine, getting out of the limo and saying goodbye to Clinton. It was time to get my revenge on William Ford. I lazily floated through the walls of the school, not bothering to wait for myself as I wandered to first period. Like Vlad had predicted I was late, but not by too much. Only about twenty minutes. I came through the chalkboard Mrs. Steil was writing on, catching her in the middle of a lecture. Wandering slightly I waited for my other self to check in at the office and get here so that "I" could give Bill a significant look before the torment would begin.

A sense of duty and importance I hadn't felt very often anymore swelled in my chest as my thoughts wandered towards what had happened this morning. Despite how awkward and weird this morning had been with learning how to shave and all, it had brought a lot of things as far as me and Vlad were concerned into focus. Mainly the fact that Vlad considered me his heir. I mean I had known for a while now, that Vlad was leaving all of his stuff to me. But up until that point I don't think I had really grasped anything beyond that. I hadn't really understood that Vlad wanted me to inherit all his stuff, but to carry on _his name_. I guess that part of it really hadn't hit me until this morning when Vlad was teaching me how to shave. Being Vlad's heir didn't just mean that I was getting all of Vlad's stuff; it meant that Vlad trusted me to carry on his legacy. That was some heavy stuff. Vlad had trusted me, of all people, with making sure that his way of life, that the traditions and values that he grew up with, made it to the next generation. Somehow that only made me want to gain Vlad's approval all the more. I had to be all the more sure that I was being the perfect Masters heir because it had hit me that I wasn't just acting the part anymore. I really was Vlad's heir. This wasn't an act. Vlad really had picked me to be his successor. He thought I had the potential to one day fill his shoes. The last thing that I wanted to do was spit that sort of faith back in Vlad's face. Vlad trusted me to uphold his name, and damit that was what I was going to do; starting with making sure that people like Ford Tough knew their place in this world.

The plan was simple really: make weird shit happen. It was easy enough to make one duplicate of myself and maintain it for the whole day if it wasn't going to be doing anything strenuous. And there was nothing strenuous about moving from one classroom to the next every fifty-five minutes. The most trouble I would have would be in Fencing, but even then, I don't think it will be too much of a problem. I would be able to focus all of my attention on Bill while my duplicate stood in my place, going through the day in my steed. Absorbing the memories would be a pain, but that was why I had scheduled a break at lunch to reorient myself. I would end up with a huge headache if I tried absorbing a whole days worth of memories in one go. Otherwise, the plan was easy enough to follow.

Like I had said, I was going to go around making impossible stuff happen. I was basically going to go around and make sure that Bill had the most physics-defying, frustrating, unexplainable day ever. If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was be infuriatingly annoying. I was a little brother; it was in my job description. Without Jazz around to poke fun at I had been missing out, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to this. I was going to make sure that Bill never got a moments peace from the second that my duplicate gave me the signal.

Finally I came into the classroom, interrupting Mrs. Steil's lecture.

"Sorry, Mrs. Steil, got a late start today." I watched as I handed the teacher my pass, " My father and I were just discussing a few things when time got away from us." My duplicate stopped for a moment under the guise of looking for an empty seat. I watched as my gaze swept over the room and lingered just a tad too long on William Ford.

"_He got the message. Go ahead." _Hearing your own voice talking over your thoughts was weird at first, but it was all a part of having duplicates. They are a part of you, so they can communicate with you. It did come in handy, like right now. My duplicate glanced in my direction before he went to sit down in an open seat. Now that Bill would know I was behind anything weird that was going to happen, I wasn't going to hesitate.

I hovered next to Bill intangible and invisible, as close as I could without overshadowing him. I took a deep breath before centering myself and then I let go of the cold aura that I had been subconsciously repressing.

When I had gotten my ice powers, I had started to radiate cold in my ghost form. The cold air had made it uncomfortable for anyone to be around me while I was in ghost form, so for the sake of my friends and sister I had started to consciously make sure that I held all of my ice aura in, it helped with stealth too. Without the cold to give me away I was practically undetectable by natural human means. I had gotten so used to doing it that now I didn't have to think about it, unless I wanted to stop doing it, like now. It was like taking off too-tight shoes after a long day of work. I had to repress a sigh of relief. I felt the power of my ice core course through my veins as the temperature within a three-foot radius of me dropped significantly. Enough to give Bill goosebumbs and look to the window, to see if it had opened. Of course it wasn't open at all. Bill settled for a look of confusion before tightening his suit jacket around himself. I smirked as I concentrated again, releasing more of my pent up ambient energy. A shiver traveled violently and unexpectedly up Bill's spine. Bill looked again to the window. Seeing again that it was closed, he looked up to the ceiling, searching for some sort of vent; only again to find nothing.

Having attracted the attention of the people around him with his violent movements, he was getting some weird looks. They were far enough away from me, the epicenter of the cold, that to them it only felt like a draft of cold air that you might get sitting next to a window in the winter. Seeing the weird looks he was getting Bill attempted to compose himself and go back to paying attention to his laptop. I smirked again, well that just wouldn't do.

I reeled in my cold aura again, though not completely, and moved myself so that I was hovering lazily facing Bill and his computer. I got comfortable, crossing my legs and resting my head in my hand, which I propped up on my knee. Lazily I reached out and slowly started to push Bill's laptop closed. So slowly that he didn't even seem to notice at first until it got to the point that he couldn't read what was on the screen. He didn't seem to be bothered and just absently corrected the screen. I gave him a few seconds before I started to close his laptop again. Impatiently he moved the screen back to where he could see it. And continued to go about his business again.

Again I started to close his laptop, now his eyebrows furrowed and he readjusted the screen. He lingered for a minute, testing the screen to make sure that it could stay up on its own. Satisfied he went back to whatever he was doing. I waited for a few moments before I started pushing the laptop closed again. This time he noticed sooner, about when his screen was at a ninety-degree angel. He looked up to the person sitting in front and too the sides of him, as if to catch them in the act of messing with his laptop screen. The girl in front of him was completely facing forward, so there was no way she was doing anything and the people to his sides were engrossed in their own laptops. Bill turned again to his own laptop, suspiciously eyeing the people around him. I had to let him settle down again before I reached out once more. I couldn't let him get paranoid too quickly; that kind of paranoia doesn't last once the event is over. Oh no no, I needed this to go nice and slow.

I waited for three minutes until Bill was immersed in his laptop again. When his screen started moving forwards again he immediately put his hand on the screen. He shifted his computer around so that he could look at the hinge of his computer. Checking to make sure the teacher was facing the board and nobody was paying attention, he picked up his computer and examined it. Finding nothing wrong he set it back down and hesitantly started messing around on his laptop again. His gaze flitted to the people around him; rarely returning to his laptop now. I laughed silently at his suspicion. Getting impatient, I decided to keep pushing his laptop closed without giving him a break. This time he snarled to himself and completely abandoned whatever he was doing on his laptop. He moved his screen back to the position he wanted it in, and sat back, arms crossed, waiting for the screen to start moving again. I smiled at Bill's frustration. Well of course I didn't want to disappoint.

As soon as I started pushing the screen he violently countered what progress I had made. With a sharp jab the screen was back at its proper angle. Wow gezze getting a little touchy? I smirked, I could play that game. With a sharp push of my own, the screen was bent forward again. Bill jumped a little, the surprise showing on his face before anger took him again and he was once again angrily moving the screen back to its place. I shoved the screen forward again, he shoved it back. I shoved it even further forward, he shoved it back. As soon as his hands cleared the keyboard I splayed my hand against the back of the screen for the most leverage. With a quick flick of my wrist I brought our little game to the next level.

THWACK!

Bill jumped in his seat, staring at his closed laptop with surprise and confusion.

"Mr. Ford, is everything alright?" Bill started again. He looked up from his desk, realizing that Mrs. Steil and the entire class were looking at him.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Mrs. Steil raised her eyebrows.

"Would you care to open your laptop and work silently on your finance report then?" Bill shifted his weight.

"Of course Mrs. Steil." Mrs. Steil gave Bill a nod before she went back to whatever she had been doing on her own computer. Bill looked back to his laptop and cautiously reached with his right hand to open it again. He opened the screen slowly, ready to withdraw his hand at a moments notice. The laptop finally sat completely open, ready for the password to be entered. Looking around once more Bill scooted the laptop closer to himself before he entered the password and started to type once more.

I let a smirk of satisfaction spread over my face as Bill stopped in his typing to check his screens position before continuing. Well that had been fun. Oh my poor William, but the day has only just begun.

Now that Bill was expecting his screen to move playing with it wouldn't be any fun. I had to find something different. I turned to see what he was typing; he actually was working on his financial report, if the title of the document was anything to go by. It didn't really matter either way. Reaching through Bill's arms and fingers I held the delete key down. Immediately the words that were being typed struggled to stay visible. The line of text was at war with itself as Bill entered what he wanted to write and I attempted to erase it. Glancing up from the keyboard, Bill was obviously confused as all he saw was a bunch of gibberish. I let up on the delete key as soon as he stopped typing, so as not to arise too much suspicion.

Still paranoid from earlier Bill immediately examined his keyboard, seeing that the delete key wasn't stuck or that there wasn't anything jamming it he punched it a few times. The key obediently did its job and erased some of the text that was behind the cursor.

Still jittery from earlier Bill was quick to catch on. He now only slowly typed. I held the delete key down and Bill stopped when he saw the same thing from before was happening. Sneering, Bill tried the opposite approach and hit a lot of keys really fast to see if that would counteract the effect. It did help a little, but there was no way that hitting the keys that fast was a practical typing method. I watched in amusement as Bill's face started to get red with frustration. He clenched and unclenched his hands as if he was just itching to pound the computer a few times.

_BEE-BEE-BEEP_.

The bell to go to the next class rung and people immediately started to move. I withdrew from my position so that I didn't get in the way and instead hovered above the crowd as I waited for Bill to make it to his next class.

I followed as Bill made it to the hallway and started walking. Here all the extra noise would be an excellent cover for what I planned to do next. I floated down to hover behind Bill's shoulder. I exhaled light puffs of freezing air on his neck.

"_Wwwwilllllliammm"_ I hissed through my teeth, drawing out the word as long as I could. My voice was raspy and old sounding. Bill looked around with a weird look on his face. Obviously he was looking for whoever was calling him in the hallway. I switched to the other ear, still breathing cold air on his neck. This time I whispered just a little quieter.

"_Wwwwilllllliammmm." _He turned again, this time in the other direction. He picked up his pace a little his head on a swivel. He was so confused it was making me smile. We'd get ride of that naivety soon enough though. As Bill power-walked down the hall I easily kept up with him. I switched to his other ear again. This time I phased my fingers through his suit jacket and his shirt and I tickled my cold fingers up his back.

"_Wwwwilllliammm Ffforrrd." _Bill violently squirmed and jogged a few steps to get away from the sensation, making noises of panic and disgust. I laughed at the display. It looked like Bill was running away from some bug like a little girl. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from laughing only to bite a little too hard. I frowned. Well owe, that had kind of hurt. I guess I kind of forgot my strength for a second. I shrugged it off and went to follow Bill again.

With a lot of over the shoulder glances Bill had made it to his Latin class. He sat at the back so that nobody could be behind him. Smart boy, that Bill, apparently there was a brain in that head after all. Too bad I could still stand behind him, but it was a good effort. I waited for class to start and Bill to pull up Word Document. He diligently took notes, hammering away loudly on the keys while the teacher lectured. Well that was no fun, so I decided to change things up a bit.

I stood behind him, half in the wall, and leaned forward through Bill to type on his keyboard when he paused.

_Good God Bill, is it really necessary to punch the keys so hard?_

Bill turned back to his notes in enough time to watch the last words appear. I watched his eyes get wide before he looked around. This time I could tell he wasn't looking for the perpetrator; he was looking to see if anyone else had noticed what was going on. Quickly he erased what I had typed and continued on taking his notes, valiantly trying to pretend that nothing weird was going on. I smirked and set my wrists on the computer turning it intangible to stop him from typing and to give him my response.

_What so you're just going to ignore me? How rude! And after you slammed me closed last hour! I deserve better treatment than this. I've been a good laptop to you haven't I? Why the hate Bill? Why the hate?_

I made the laptop tangible again so Bill could type. When he discovered he could touch the keyboard he didn't delete what I had written, but responded. Good. Now I could properly mess with his head.

_Look I'm sorry. Happy now? I would like to take notes now; so kindly stop doing whatever it is your doing._

When Bill went to type again he found that he couldn't, courtesy of moi. So he watched the screen for the "laptop's" reply.

_So I talk to you for the first time ever, in fact you are the only person who I have EVER talked to, and you reject my advances. I am hurt Bill. Do you know how lonely I get? I can only correct so many of your spelling errors before I start to go slightly stir crazy. _

I let up on the intangibility and waited to see what he would do. When Bill found that he could type again he just ignored me, but didn't delete what I had written. He continued to take notes as if his laptop was not periodically interrupting him. Good god, how determined was this guy? It was obvious something was going on, and yet he continued to turn a blind eye. How was he explaining this to himself? What was going through his head? I put my wrists on the laptop again and Bill stopped a sigh as he found he couldn't type again.

_Bill, honey, this has got to stop. You can't keep ignoring me like this. Shoving your problems away does not solve them it only stops you from solving them sooner. I'm concerned Bill. I've known you for a little while now and I'm sensing that there is something wrong. You can talk to me you know. Who am I going to tell? _

As soon as Bill found he could touch his computer again he did something I had not expected.

He closed his laptop, put it away and got out a pen and paper.

I crossed my arms in disappointment. Well that was a bummer. I had been having fun being the moody possessed laptop. What was I supposed to do now? I guess I could scribble over the notes he was _still_ insisting on taking. I did kind of feel like doodling. That was one of the things about having a laptop to take notes on; you never got to doodle anymore.

I flew up to the teacher's desk and discreetly rooted around for an extra pencil. I found an old Ticonderoga pencil with out an eraser. It would work for my purposes. I floated back over to Bill and took a look at what he had so far. Honestly he hadn't written down very much. The paper was still mostly empty with only the first few lines filled out. Well I could certainly change that. Obviously I had made the pencil invisible and intangible and I started to draw on the paper directly below where Bill was writing.

First I drew a stick figure. Hey I was doodling here. I wasn't the next Picasso or anything. Anyway, I drew a stick figure and I labeled it Bill. I was slightly annoyed when Bill himself only wrote over my cute little stick figure like it wasn't even there. I scowled a little bit and went to erase what was over my stick figure when I realized I didn't have an eraser.

Well dangit.

Okay, plan two. I scribbled out the old stick figure, and if that ruined some of Bill's notes that was purely a coincidence. I drew a new stick figure in the margins instead. Now if he wanted to write over it he would have to specifically write in the margins. I drew the stick figure again and labeled it William and underlined it several times. Then I drew a giant axe, and had it swinging down towards stick figure Bill. I then drew a terrified face on the stick figure. I glanced up to the real Bill to see him studiously ignoring the lines appearing on the margins. He would glance though, every few seconds despite himself and I could see the disturbed look in his eye when he did.

Bravo Bill, we were finally making progress.

I started drawing a new picture, directly below the first one. This time I drew the axe first; it had swung to the opposite side of where it was in the previous picture. Now I drew the stick figure. This time I drew the head a little ways off from the rest of the body. I drew squiggly shapes that were supposed to be blood I drew x's where the eyes were supposed to be. This time I labeled the stick figure Bill. I then put a box around both the drawings and put the title at the top. "Kill Bill: gotta love the classics"

I was particularly proud of this little doodle; I thought it was pretty clever at least. I couldn't help it if Bill had a name that naturally lended itself towards certain puns. As soon as I was done writing the title I saw Bill's gaze flicker to my drawing once more, only this time his gaze lingered and he stopped his pretense of note taking. He stared at the drawing for a minute before he took the paper off of his desk and put it back in his brief case along with his pen. He then turned forward and pointedly looked forward towards the teacher, listening intently, as if he were trying to absorb every word.

Now I was pissed. How was I supposed to mess with Bill now? I had tried to stick to indirect methods of annoyance but Bill was forcing me to use more invasive techniques. I silently sighed; I suppose I would have to settle for the more blatant tricks. I had been having fun being all sneaky and subtle, but those days were over, apparently. The trouble with being more obvious about my presence was that if I wasn't careful, someone else would realize that the weird things Bill was doing weren't Bill's fault. So I decided to start small. Moved to stand to Bill's right and grabbed onto his desk. In this class they used the kind of desks where the seat was attached to the table. I braced myself and I slowly started to push the desk, and subsequently Bill, into the isle.

It was a few seconds before Bill realized he was moving but when he did the reaction was perfect. He grabbed onto the sides of his desk so hard his knuckles turned white and planted his feet firmly on the floor, halting my progress. Of course nothing on Bill's face gave away that he was experiencing anything weird, as it remained completely blank. Oh Bill, if only you knew you were helping me by remaining so stoic, maybe then you would let some of your reactions show. If he did though it was still to my advantage. Bill would still get noticed, I just wouldn't be able to mess with him as much.

So I watched as Bill tried to slowly maneuver himself back to his position in the row and pretend that nothing was going on. Which was difficult for him because he didn't have his laptop he could go back to, or a paper he could start to write on, so he just stared very intensely at the teacher, which just looked kind of creepy. I gave Bill a few seconds of peace before I braced myself again and started to push on the desk once more.

Bill went to grab the desk again and made to stop its movement but I wasn't having any of that. I didn't allow Bill's efforts of keeping his desk in place effect me this time. I was infinitely stronger than Bill so it wasn't a problem. Bill however was straining with all of his might against the desk, trying desperately to keep it from slowly moving out and into the isle, all the while maintaining a stoic face that betrayed nothing of the frustration or panic I could feel rolling off of him in waves. He was about halfway from being completely in the isle when we were interrupted.

"Mr. Ford is there something you would like to share with the class?" I immediately stopped pushing the desk. The loss of the pressure caused Bill, who had actually stood up slightly from his seat to push against me, to tumble to the side. Desk and all fell away from the isle with a 'thud' as Bill lay tangled in the desk, his face red from the previous strain he was under and his embarrassment.

Immediately there were snickers from the class as Bill stood up from the mess and righted his desk. Nobody asked if he was okay, or offered to help. The teacher just gave him a dirty look before continuing with class. So Bill, still red faced, brushed himself off and sat back in his desk. Occasionally people would look back and smirk before turning forward again. After a few minutes of attention from the class people stopped looking back and had focused back on whatever they were doing before. I just stood there in satisfaction. Bill sat there bracing himself as if at any moment his world would be tilted on its axis. Which really was the smart thing to do. It was just unfortunate that there was nothing he could do to stop me.

Now I decided that Bill needed a healthy dose of creepy to go with his unexplainable occurrence. I reached out and I ever so lightly touched the skin behind Bill's ear. Reflexively Bill's hand came up to brush the feeling away. I complied and stopped after he had itched the spot. I waited a few more seconds before I was again tickling behind his ear. He flinched a little before he rubbed the area more thoroughly, a curious look on his face. I stopped and started again once he had put his hand down. And he again went to scrub the area, looking around to make sure no one had noticed he was incessantly itching behind his ear. I played this game for a little while, sporadically giving Bill breaks in contact and it wasn't long before Bill was squirming in his seat, the need to get up and _away _from whatever was touching him was so obvious that I nearly laughed. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from making any noise. I frowned a little bit at the sharp feeling that poked at my cheek when I bit down, but I shrugged it off.

_BEE-BEE-BEEP_

Bill was up and out of his seat so fast he was the first one out of the classroom despite the fact that he had sat in the very back corner. When he got to the hallway he slowed a bit, righting himself and trying to regain his composure. In the noise of the hallway again I decided I should have a few words with my prey.

"_Wwwwwillllliammmm" _I rasped into his ear. He jumped and picked up the pace. I snickered and talked some more.

"_Wwwwhhhy do you rrrunnnnnn from me Wwwwwilliam?" _Bill was now pushing people out of his way in his haste to get to his next class. I easily kept up as I floated lazily and intangibly behind him. I breathed on his neck and lightly grabbed his shoulder with an ice-cold hand.

"_Wwwwwilllliammmmm" _Bill yelped and took off in a sprint towards his next class. I dutifully followed, biting my cheek, albeit slightly too hard again, to keep from making any noise. Oh this was awesome. Who knew Bill would be so responsive? I floated in behind Bill as he made it to his next class. The teacher gave him a weird look when Bill actually closed the door after he had walked inside, like he was hiding from something that was following him. Bill ignored the teacher and went to sit in the most isolated corner of the classroom in the very back corner. His shoulders were hunched forward as if to provide the most protection possible.

From there I watched and waited for most of the hour. I didn't do anything to Bill. He sat there and would tense up and look around every once in a while but it wasn't because of anything I did. This was the trick to my whole plan, was these periodic breaks. If I just continually pestered Bill he'd still be freaking out, but it wouldn't be the same. It's the surprise factor that really adds to the whole paranoia kick. I would know, it is what made me so damn nervous about ghost attacks in Amity. This was the same principal, I was being unpredictable and that was half of what made this so fun. Finally it there were only three minutes left to class and I prepared for the Grande Finale before lunch. I floated over to Bill and slipped my arm into his like a long glove. I wasn't overshadowing his whole body, just his arm. It was a concept I had only ever tested or really needed a couple of times, but I could still do it. When I had complete control over his arm I raised his hand high and started flipping the bird.

The teacher trailed off as she first thought Bill was raising his hand to ask a question, when she saw that he was instead giving her the finger she frowned. The rest of the class was having serious trouble not openly laughing. Bill had a look of absolute horror on his face. He reached with his other hand to try and pull his misbehaving arm down but once more I was infinitely stronger than Bill. The teacher did not look amused.

"Bill cease this behavior at once or you will be sent to ROTC." Bill gasped and sputtered.

"Please this isn't me. I'm not doing this." He tugged relentlessly on his arm and it still would not budge. He looked up at his hand like it was a misbehaving child before he looked back to the teacher who was still very angry at the disrespect she was being shown. He pleaded clearly not knowing what else to do or how to explain himself "Weird stuff has been happening to me all day, please I would never do this. I am so sorry. I must be sick or something." Bill tugged at his arm, completely unconcerned with appearances now he let the strain he was under show openly on his face. It looked like he was constipated and I had to bite my lip again to keep from laughing. Biting my lip worked, and I was painfully sobered up as something sharp poked my lip. I felt my lip with my free hand and pulled it away. I didn't see any blood so I decided it was just me being weird again and went back to enjoying the show. Bill was still struggling to get his arm under control and his face was now starting to turn red with the strain. When I had been distracted Bill had made a little headway in bringing his arm down but I quickly fixed that. With a yelp that almost sounded like a sob Bill's arm was back to being stretched completely into the air and he continued to unwillingly flip off the entire class. Encouraged by the fact that the rest of the class was on the verge of collapsing into hysterics I decided to start waving his arm around comically to some tune only I could hear. There was

renewed snickering and a few outright laughs.

"Mr. Ford I have had enough. I don't know what you think you are trying to pull but I will not have it in my class. ROTC now!" Bill was looking frantically around as his arm continued to flip everyone off of it's own violation.

"B-But, I swear it isn't- "

_BEE-BEE-BEEP_

The class lost all control and started to openly laugh at Bill as they made their way leisurely to the door. I let Bill have his arm again. Bill hurriedly brought his arm down and started to frantically pick up his things and hightail it out the door.

"Oh no Mr. Ford, you will be staying after class so that we can discuss your behavior." Bill made a sound like he was going to sob in complete and utter frustration. His hands were shaking in his anxiety as his brain struggled to put the past three hours into a context that could explain what was going on. So far his computer had developed sentience, drawings depicting his death appeared on his papers, his chairs moved, and he was losing control of his limbs. I chuckled evilly, my laugh being disguised by the others that were still making their way out of the room. Bill's face was red and there was vulnerability in Bill's eyes, as he looked around frantically, completely disoriented. I floated lazily towards my private dinning room. It was time for lunch, so I would be remerging with myself. I was in for a headache, but as I took one last glance at Bill getting a tongue-lashing I smirked. It was completely worth it.

* * *

Lunch had been a pain, literally and metaphorically. All I had been able to stomach was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Gloria had been worried and had given me numerous tips on how to beat a migraine. I had tried to smile apathetically at her only to wince as my head pounded and attempted to coincide two sets of memories. I had called up Jazz. I really didn't have a choice. I hadn't called her for two days now and she would be getting worried.

I decided to tell her about my escapades with Bill. I honestly was bursting to tell _someone_. I was proud of my accomplishment and not getting any recognition for it was a real bummer. Of course Jazz had to be Jazz and at first she said my name in that way she does when I've done something stupid. _"Dan-ny!" _ With a lot of stress on the 'a' in an exasperated tone. I could only smile at her because I knew that if she was saying my name that way that she was exasperated at my 'stupid decisions', but she still thought it was funny. She had told me to get that smug grin off my face and stop acting like an idiot. I only smiled more and she shook her head with an equally wide grin on her face.

So Jazz had been brought up to speed and she was still being as awesome as ever. She was on my side and said that "This Bill person sounds like a real jerk anyway." I told her about how my training was going and that I was improving a lot and that I could make fifteen of myself now. She said she was excited for me and that she wanted to see my progress sometime. I told her I'd ask about having her over for Thanksgiving. She said she went on Thanksgiving break on Friday and that it would be really awesome if she could stay with me and Vlad because she really didn't want to go back to Amity just yet. After she said that, it had gotten quite for a little bit before she abruptly changed the subject to complaining about how expensive her textbooks were.

She asked me how things were with Vlad and I said they were going really good. I told her about this morning when he had taught me how to shave and she had laughed. I told her Vlad was Russian and she didn't look too surprised. I asked her why she hadn't been as surprised as I had and she said it was pretty obvious. His name was _Vladimir_ and he was just built that way. That just made me feel stupid and I told her so. She just smirked and made a comment about my lack of intelligence to which I playfully glared.

We bickered back and forth for a while before it was time to go and like whenever I was talking to Jazz I really wished that she could be there all the time. My headache had gone away while Jazz had distracted me and I stood up split in two and had headed my separate ways.

It wasn't long before I had found Bill again. He was on his way to his next class. He still looked nervous from earlier, but it was obvious he had calmed down somewhat.

So I spent the next fifty-five minutes making up for lost time. He was in Calc Class, I think. I didn't really care either way. I spent most of the hour flicking his forehead or blowing in his eyes so he blinked and whipped his face a lot. I loosened his tie and made the back of his neck really cold. I had played the "Are you uncomfortable now?" game sliding my hand from his knee to his thigh until he got so freaked out he jumped out of his seat with a yelp. The class had laughed and the teacher had given him another dirty look. Bill made up some lame excuse about a really big static shock. I was glad when he did finally jump up because by that point I was close enough to his crotch _I _had been uncomfortable, but I was too stubborn to stop and I figured that he would crack before I got much further, and I was right. Go figure. I had frozen his desk, or at least made it cold enough that it was uncomfortable to sit on. So he had started shivering and it had been fun watching him try to make his teeth stop chattering. I tickled his feet and it was amusing to watch his neighbors' reactions as he had seemingly random seizures. The entire time Bill had descended further and further into hysterics. He was having more trouble containing his whimpers of surprise. He would run his hands through his hair and it was completely messed up by this point. His hands were starting to shake. He would mutter to himself saying that nothing was actually real and it was all in his head. All in all It had been oddly satisfying watching Bill try to cope with all of these things that his brain just couldn't logically explain.

_BEE-BEE-BEEP_

The bell rung again and Bill was up and out of his seat like lightning. Coincidentally I could travel just as quickly without any effort whatsoever. So under the cover of the hallway's noise again I decided that the creepy voice should make its comeback. Bill hadn't heard from him in a while anyway.

"_Wwwwwilllliammmm." _There wasn't any noticeable change in Bill's speed but that might have been because he was already traveling as fast as he could through the crowded hallway without drawing attention to himself.

"_IIIIII wannnnt to plllllllay Wwwwillliam." _I trailed a cold finger up his neck. Bill cringed away and whimpered. I could see his eyes were getting glassy and I raised my eyebrow, stifling a snort of disgust. Really this guy wouldn't have even lasted an _hour _back in Amity.

"_Llllllet'sssss pllllllay togethhher." _I waited a few seconds for Bill to stop looking around frantically before I suddenly grabbed his upper arms in an icy, iron grip. Bill let out an actual _scream_ before he started sprinting down the hall towards his fencing class. I didn't hold in my laughter, as the others that were filling the hall would cover it up. I quickly sobered myself before I zoomed ahead of Bill. I had to get to his locker before he did. I arrived in the locker room and positioned myself inside of Bill's locker so that I was facing the closed door. I wasn't uncomfortable because I was still intangible and I could freely move between the lockers so I wasn't just constrained into one. I concentrated with my eyes closed on making just my eyes visible. I could feel when I was successful, now I focused on making them glow more than usual. I only had to maintain my concentration for a few seconds before I heard Bill, panting from his short sprint, enter the locker room. I heard him sit somewhere and mutter to himself before his footsteps came closer to the locker I was in.

I still had my eyes closed when I heard the locker squeak open. I waited for a few seconds until Bill was reaching for his fencing suit hanging on a hook before snapping my eyes open. Bill let out another scream as he slammed the locker shut with a loud metallic BANG; scared out of his mind by the bodiless green eyes he had found inside. Since there was no one besides Bill in the locker room yet I let out a loud laugh. It bounced eerily around the uncarpeted room and Bill was looking around frantically for it's source. I managed to get control of myself when other guys started coming in. They found Bill standing in a corner shooting terrified looks at his locker. All the other guys just looked at him weird and went to get their own things. It wasn't long before my duplicate walked in. I watched myself take one look at Bill in the corner and a vindictive smirk spread over my face. My duplicate was about to start moving towards my own locker when I sent him my idea through the link. He hesitated only slightly in redirecting himself from my locker to where Bill was cowered in a corner.

"William, I can't help but notice that you haven't gotten yourself ready. Is there something wrong?" Bill looked my duplicate up and down with an angry look.

"You. You stop doing this! You aren't going to get away with this! You can't. You stop it right now!" My duplicate gave Bill a condescending look.

"I haven't done anything to you William. In fact I have only seen you once today, and that was this morning. I'm afraid you are going to have to articulate yourself more adequately in order to get your point across." Bill's anger rose to the surface easily, as he was already agitated and confused.

"You sicked some kind of ghost thing on me. I don't know how you did it or what it is but you have to stop it right now!" I gave Bill another amused and disbelieving look.

"Are you proposing that I somehow managed to not only find a ghost, but convince it to follow you around? Are you quite aware of how ridiculous this sounds." Bill only got more frustrated and his fists started to clench at his sides as he stood up properly.

"Stop with the _talk_ Masters and take back whatever ghost you brought here." My duplicate shook its head and walked slowly closer to Bill.

"Oh William, I would, as you are clearly terrified but, Ghosts. Don't. Exist." My duplicate stopped when he was toe to toe with Bill leaning forward to whisper, its eyes flashed green. "Do they?" Bill pushed past my duplicate and ran out of the locker room back into the hallway.

Bill wasn't present for fencing that day.

I sent a thought of approval and congratulations at my duplicate before I went to stalk Bill some more. I followed the sound of frantic footsteps down the hallway. Bill was yanking on random doors. Trying to find some place to hide. Finally he came upon an unlocked janitors closet and he threw himself inside. There was a loud clatter as Bill landed on mop buckets and cardboard boxes. I came to a stop before the closet door and stuck my head through. Being able to see through the dark I could easily make out Bill shoving himself as far as he could into the back of the closet. His eyes were frantic and wide shooting back and forth and up and down. I saw a silvery trail of where a tear had actually made the trip down his cheek.

" It's not real, s'not real, not real." Bill muttered to himself over and over again. His arms flailed around searching for something to grab onto. His hand landed on a dirty mop head and he clung to it like it was a lifeline. I let a giant smirk spread over my face. Vengeance was so _so_ sweet. I wanted to see how far I could push him. I wanted to see if I could really make him cry. It would be easier now that he was in a closet where no one could see. I spoke in the creepy voice.

"_Wwwwwhy Wwwwwilliammm?" _Bill jumped and started breathing heavily, sucking air in and out of his lungs. This time Bill spoke back.

"L-l-leave me al-l-lone." He sounded like a pitiful five year old. I trailed a finger down his cheek.

"_But IIIIII wannnnnt to pllllllay Willllliammm." _Bill jerked and hit his head violently against the wall. He started shaking his head as if he weren't really aware he was moving it in the first place.

"No no no no no no." I chuckled lightly, which caused Bill to whimper and shrink in on himself.

"_Lllllet's play a gammmmme Willliammmm." _I waited as Bill's breathing got faster and faster as he looked around frantically. After enough time had passed my hand shot out like a viper and grabbed his upper arms like I had in the hallway. Bill screamed bloody murder.

"Is someone in there? Are you okay?"

I abruptly let go of Bill when I heard the unknown voice; biting my tongue, painfully, to keep from making a noise of surprise. Suddenly there was a kind of coppery taste in my mouth. Had I bit my tongue so hard that I was bleeding? What the heck? What was this like the fifth time I had bitten myself today? What gives? I started to fly off so that I could look in a mirror to see what the heck was wrong with my mouth when I remembered Bill was still sitting there. I watched as the door to the closet opened and the person who had been walking by, a teacher, looked at Bill in his pathetic state. I smirked again as I looked over Bill's twitching form. His eyes darted frantically from side to side. The teacher looked down on him with pity. Okay I could go for a minute and he would be fine, he was probably due for a break anyway. Let Bill get himself back together, it would be fun to watch him unwind again. I drifted away silently, floating through the walls to get to the bathroom. I choose one that was at the corners of the school. Nobody used these very frequently.

Still in my ghost form my landing when I stopped myself from floating was still completely silent. I walked closer to the mirror my mouth open wide so that I could see what was wrong. At first I thought that maybe there was something wrong with the mirror. It was making my eyeteeth look weird, kind of longer and pointer somehow. I moved closer to the mirror and pulled my lip up a little more, and still my eyeteeth looked longer than they should have. Still curious I reached up with a finger and felt my teeth; to be sure it wasn't just the mirror. I could lay the whole tip of my finger down on the tooth. I ran my finger over it a few times still not quite believing it. I taped the point and a bead of blood welled up on the tip of my finger.

Fangs.

I had _fangs. _

"Why the he~ck would I-" I stopped talking as my voice suddenly cracked and went lower. I froze for a minute. Why did I feel like I had heard someone talk with that voice before? I could've sworn I heard that voice…

"_Don't you get it? I'm still here. You still turn into me!"_

"_Oh, you prom-ised."_

"_I'm inevitable"_

No…

No, that wasn't happening! This wasn't happening. There had to be another explanation.

_Yeah Dan, there is totally a better explanation for your growing fangs, your voice getting all creepy, and not to mention you've been using your powers to torment Bill to tears, who is a human, ALL DAY!_

My breathing started to pick up and my lip got caught on my K-9 again which only served to make me panic more. It was true. I was turning into him. I was going to turn into him! I had to do something. There had to be someone who could stop this, or contain me or kill me if they had to! Where could I go? What was I going to do who was going to help me?

"_I see everything, Past, Present, and Possible Futures." _

Clockwork. I had to get to Clockwork. He had told me once; how to get to him in an emergency when I didn't have time to go though a Ghost Portal. He could stop this. I just needed a clock…

Frantically I looked around for an analog clock. You know, the ones with actual hands on them? No luck. There wasn't even a digital clock in the bathroom. I shot out of there turning invisible and intangible to a classroom looking around frantically. There was a clock but it was only a stupid digital one! I went from classroom to classroom looking for any sort of clock I cold find but they were all fucking digital ones. That wouldn't work! I needed an analog one damit! My vision started to get wobbly as panic started to set in. I needed a clock. I needed a clock. All I needed was one fucking clock! Was that too much to ask for! Stupid digital clocks, they weren't that much easier to read were they? It wasn't so difficult that we had to go and replace every single-

THERE!

I had slipped into the main office, and behind the Secretary was a giant fancy analog clock. The numbers were represented with roman numerals and the hands were made of handcrafted iron. The white marble face was rimmed with a carved gold frame full of swirls and shit. I was about to cry and scream my relief when the secretary stretched took a sip of some coffee.

Well fuck.

Stupid ornery secretary! Couldn't she be in the bathroom, or making copies? I just needed like, two minutes alone with the clock. I had to make her get out of the office somehow. The idea struck me as she slowly went to take another sip of her coffee. I reached out and gently pushed the cup out of her hand.

"Aughhh!"

She sprang up out of her chair and held her arms out in shock before she was moving quickly out of the office and towards the bathroom just down the hall. Silently I hoped the coffee wasn't too hot but I honestly wasn't concerned with that right now. If it was the difference between one lady getting her boobs burned and the destruction of the world as we knew it, I was taking the boob burns.

With that out of the way I became visible and tangible and rushed over to the clock on the wall. I wound the hands forward until the clock said it was exactly 7:57. I charged my hand with ecto-energy and placed my palm against the center of the clock. Crap how did the pass phrase go again? I thought I knew it, but Clockwork just changed it this July to some stupid poem. I swear to god Clockwork is going to regret making it so fucking long. I took a deep breath. Okay, just calm down, you can do this. With one last huff I started to recite the poem Clockwork had forced me to memorize in a shaky voice that would crack and go lower every few words, or go back to being high and squeaky with nerves.

"Father Ti~me please take heed,

Of the wo~rds I'm 'bout to plead,

The moment's close the ti~me is near,

To disclose my one tr~ue fear,

I face a foe I ca~n't out-run,

The battle that cannot be w~on,

Please grant me entra~nce to your lair

This is your wards most desp~erate prayer!"

With that a blue glow spread outward from the center of the clock. The hands started to spin, faster and faster until they suddenly stopped and the clock read exactly twelve. There was a 'ding' like an elevator reaching the correct floor and I was sucked into the blue portal. It immediately blinked out of existence behind me.

Approximately 120 miles away in a 23-story office building, a cellphone started to play O' Fortuna.

* * *

_If you don't know what o' fortuna is, look it up on youtube. I promise it totally adds to the affect of the story!_


	45. Chapter 45: Does Somebody Need a Time Ou

AN:/ Alright guys I got this one out pretty quick, yeah? I'm on spring break and I have been wanting to write this chapter for a long long time. I am actually in the process of writing the next chapter too and I am fairly well along. I was going to wait and post that and this in the same chapter, but it was getting too huge. Like seriously, when it starts to go above 25,000 words I think it's time to make some editing descions. Plus i just really really like where this cuts off. Because if you haven't figured out by now, i'm evil! I don't know when i will have the next chapter up, but it will be very obvious by the end of this chapter that the next chapter is going to be very important so I want to hold onto it until i am absolutely sure that it is as awesome and epic and perfect as I want it to be. So it might be a while. don't hold your breath or anything. I really hope you guys like this one anyway. I am super exicted to hear what you guys have to say. Go ahead then, ON WITH IT!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 45: Does Somebody Need a Time Out?

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, March 9, 2012, 2:50PM _

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**IMPORTANT:** In this Chapter I will refer to something called a 'Shade'. I am taking some creative liscense here and saying that Vlad can make these things. You may recall, that in "Eye for an Eye" Vlad oversadows the entire town to get them to vote for him. However, the duplicates he uses to do this are pictured as being semi-formless shadow like beings. I am calling these things 'Shades' and I am saying that Vlad is able to make so many of these because they are not as intelegent or powerful as a fully formed duplicate. Shades cannot make descions or construct an arguement by themselves, they are limited to the basic powers of flight, intagibility, invisiblity and overshadowing. They are basically mindless drones created for a single purpose and that is how Vlad is able to make so many of them.

* * *

** Danny's POV**

I felt all kinds of G-forces pulling on the skin of my face before I was hurling out the other end of the portal. The rapid movement did not help my state of mind. It was like stepping onto a rollercoaster when you're already on the verge of an emotional breakdown. I let out a yelp as I thudded to the floor in a heap. Immediately I sprung up and found myself in a battle stance, completely overrun with hysteria. I was going to turn evil. I had to find Clockwork. I _had to_. Frantically I searched the room. I locked my sights on my target and started running towards it, screaming in absolute panic.

"CLOCKWOR-" I froze, or rather I had been frozen, mid step as I was stumbling towards my mentor with all possible haste. My face was stuck in the middle of screaming exactly like in one of those really embarrassing pictures where you get caught in the middle of a sentence. Clockwork, who had been standing over by one of his favorite viewing portals, let out a sigh and lowered his staff from where he had clicked the top of it. Slowly he made his way over towards my frozen form. He inspected me for a moment as if to make sure that I was all right, and after he was satisfied with my physical state he simply let me sit there, frozen, as he stared at me. The whole while my thoughts were racing. What was Clockwork doing? Was I going to be frozen like this for the rest of eternity? Why was he looking at me like he was looking for something? What was going on? Clockwork merely floated in my line of sight and bored his gaze into me. After an eternity and I had thought up a million questions that needed answers but couldn't ask because I had been put on 'pause', Clockwork opened his mouth.

"Danny, why are you here?" I just continued to look at Clockwork, unable to voice any of my objections to the completely random question. Shouldn't he already know why I was here? He knew everything. Why was he asking that when he should already know? He was the freaking Master of Time! Unless…I had already become so evil that I was blocking myself from the time stream like I had in the alternate future? Before panic could get a hold of me again my attention was brought back to Clockwork as he opened his mouth.

"You've known me long enough to know that I do not ask questions for myself. Now answer the question and pay attention to your own response. Why are you here?" The answer sprung to my mind quickly. It was after all, increasingly obvious. I'm freaking here because I'm turning evil! I'm turning into HIM! Clockwork sighed and gave me an impatient, scolding look.

"And what, Danny, has given you this impression of your character?" This answer, to me anyway, was also obvious. For one I was growing fangs, just like He did. And my voice sounded exactly the same! Even better, I had been purposefully tormenting William Ford towards a hysterical melt down, _and enjoying it,_ ALL DAY! Clockwork glanced to his staff before examining his fingernails uninterestedly.

"That's all the evidence you can devise? You hit puberty and you indulged in your need for vengeance? Come now, you must have done something truly despicable to make yourself believe that you were on the path we have already avoided once. Have you murdered anyone? Devised any plans of world conquest? Stolen anything priceless?" Clockwork rattled off capital offenses like they were nothing more than a grocery list. I mentally stuttered. Well _no._ Of course I hadn't done anything like that! But that didn't matter! I was going to-

"Danny, are you aware of what initially allures people to commit these types of offenses?" Clockwork looked me sternly in the eye. I felt the urge to look away or blink or _something_ and my eyes itched when I found I couldn't. I-I don't know what makes people evil. That's like asking whether the chicken or the egg came first: How was I supposed to know? I'm not a Philosopher or anything. It just happens doesn't it? They're just born that way. I can't help it if I was turning evil; I was destined to. All I could do was get to Clockwork before it happened, right? What did this have to do with me turning evil anyway, did it even matter how I got there? All that I cared about was that I didn't destroy the fucking world. Who gives a shit as to _why_! Clockwork continued to look me in the eye, growing increasingly impatient as he explained.

"There are two ways to become evil Danny. The first is the most common: When a person commits despicable acts under the impression that the ends will justify the means. These people are not entirely aware of the implications of their actions. In fact they are under the delusion that they are in the right, and that everyone who opposes them is wrong and evil; that they are merely misunderstood. They may seek redemption for their acts but they will never truly regret, because their acts were justified in there own minds. These people do not recognize they are wrong and do not seek help or deliverance from others." Clockwork paused as if waiting for the information to sink into my brain. I recognized that Clockwork was pausing so that I could deliberate on what he had said. That was really the only reason Clockwork ever paused in conversation. Okay, so was he saying that I didn't even realize I was being evil? But that couldn't be it: I was here to stop myself because I knew I was evil. I knew I was evil, or was turning evil, and I didn't think that I was doing the right thing. So I had to be the other type of evil person, whatever it was. Clockwork smirked before he opened his mouth to continue.

"The second way to become evil is far less common, but it does exist. A person may become evil through the loss of emotion, through the loss of ones humanity, through losing ones mind. This type of person is aware entirely of what they are doing. They know exactly the pain and the torment they inspire and they act in such a way regardless. They enjoy the fear and anger of others. These people are indifferent to their own existence; they put no value in their own life. It doesn't matter who they hurt or what they destroy. These people simply do not care about anything. They are completely apathetic to the wellbeing of themselves and others as long as they create chaos and havoc wherever they go." My mouth became increasingly dry as it was forced to remain open. So what, now Clockwork was accusing me of going around and torturing innocent people for the fun of it? I mean I know I had been haunting Bill all day, but he asked for it! I couldn't be this type of evil person either because I had come to Clockwork when I knew I was turning evil. So I still _cared_. I didn't want chaos and destruction; that was the point! But then if there were only two ways to become evil then I had to be one of them didn't I? How was I supposed to know which one I was? I had only come because I thought that I was only _starting on the path. _Unless Clockwork was saying… that I wasn't evil in the first place?

"AH-Umph." I flopped unceremoniously to the floor as I was suddenly unfrozen. I coughed a few times at the dryness in my throat and my eyes started to water at being held open for so long. I blinked them excessively. When you were frozen in time your glands and ducts stopped working too, however that did not stop evaporation from happening. I stood up and rubbed my burning eyes. Clockwork continued to speak, indifferent to my discomfort.

"That is exactly what I'm implying Danny. The fact that you came to me in the first place tells me that you are not turning evil. Those who are truly evil, despite how they became so, do not seek to be brought to justice. If you ever turn down that path it will not be up to you to come to me and turn yourself in, as it will not be your inclination. It is my responsibility, and mine alone, to detain you if you ever go so far down that road that you cannot be saved. There is nothing you can do to stop or prevent it. Time will take its course and you will go along for the ride." I opened and closed my moth as I processed what the heck Clockwork had just said. B-but that wasn't fair! He was saying it like I had no control over what happened!

"So you're saying that if I turn ev~il I won't be able to stop myself? I don't have any say over it? It doesn't matter if I turn my~self in before I think it's going to happen because the fact th~at I turned myself in means that I was never going evil in the first place?" I winced as my voice cracked, though it didn't deter me from my rant in the slightest. Clockwork was going to hear what I had to say damit! Even if he already knew what was going to come out of my mouth. Clockwork only smirked at me. He smirked! I sputtered, may arms waving around as I paced circles.

"But that's n~ot okay! So I don't have any say over my own future? How am I supposed to stop from be~coming evil if I don't even know it's happening? What am I supposed to do?" Clockwork started to fiddle with his staff as he turned and floated back over to his viewing portal. I found myself increasingly irritated with his indifference to my plight. I was talking about the end of the world as we knew it here! Clockwork suddenly spoke, still facing away from me.

"Nothing." I stopped and gaped.

"N~othing! You want me to do n~othing! I'm just supposed to go about my life accepting that what happens will happen and you'll just take c~are of it if things get out of hand?" B-But he couldn't do that! I had come all the way here. I was supposed to sacrifice my own freedom for everyone else's. There was a plan in place to prevent my turning evil so that it would _never happen_. I wasn't just supposed to go with the fucking flow! Clockwork was back to his viewing portal dismissively participating in the conversation as I had a mental breakdown.

"That would be the general idea, yes." I sputtered some more. There had to be something wrong here. This was not in the plan. This was not the chain of events I had been freaking out about. This was not the reasoning that had made me think an emergency trip to Clockwork's was necessary! There had to be some sort of sign that I could use to let me know if I was turning evil. If it wasn't my sudden need to torment people, or my voice changing, then what the hell was it? I felt a little poke on my lip.

"I've got fuck~ing FANGS! Why the he~ll do I have fangs if I'm not turning evil? You can explain away the voice as puber~ty, even if it is creepy, but you've yet to say anything about the fangs." Clockwork looked over his shoulder at me with eyebrows raised, amused.

"You were bound to grow them eventually. It's a part of your growing ghost half. I suppose over time your eyes will become completely green and pupil less as well, but you have a few years yet." I stood there for a moment, just trying to piece together everything Clockwork was saying.

"I really _am _going through evil puber~ty!" Clockwork replied, bored, his attentions back on the viewing portal.

"Danny we just went over what it took to become evil." I glared at the back of Clockworks stupid purple cape.

"Fine, Ghost puberty then. I don't really care either way be~cause it still sucks dick!" Clockwork didn't react to my screaming at all, not even a twitch.

"Aughhhh!" Clockwork just continued to stand there as I grabbed at my hair in frustration. I ran over to one of the huge cogs and started kicking it mercilessly. The metal toes I had put in my boots clanging loudly against the metal of the cogs.

"I. _clang_ Hate. _clang _Your. _clang_ Stupid. _clang_ Confusing. _clang_ Ad~vice! _clang_" I stopped, panting heavily. I had poured all of my energy into the kicks, leaving several rather large dents in the cog that was sticking out of the floor. I scowled at it, panting, before I flopped down to the floor and lay down spread eagle to rest. Finally my breathing was back under control. It was silent besides my breathing and the infinite ticking that surrounded Clockwork's lair. Somehow I felt like I could take a nap at that moment. I rolled over and turned to watch Clockwork instead. He would mostly just float there in front of the wall of screens. Sometimes he would wave his hand in front of one and the picture would change, or he would peek behind one and adjust something with the mechanics of it before returning to watch it.

"Why give me the st~upid poem then?" Clockwork turned, a knowing look on his face. He didn't have to ask what poem I was talking about. He knew I was talking about the one I used to get here in the first place.

"Surely you've realized its significance by now." I sighed and dropped my head to the floor. My speech was mumbled but Clockwork knew what I was going to say anyways so it didn't really matter.

"I figured it was about com~ing to tell you when I thought I was turning into Him. That was what made sense anyway." Clockwork smirked again.

"That is what the poem was meant to do, but that is not what it actually means. You are a smart young man Danny when you believe you have discovered it's hidden message, call for me." I glared and Clockwork only smirked before he went back to looking at the viewing portals. I rolled over on the floor again so that I was facing the ceiling. There were all kinds of gears and cogs that hung from it swinging back and forth or spinning around. All the while the persistent desynchronized tick-tock tick-tock of thousands of different clocks permeated the air. I really hated it when Clockwork insisted on telling me things through these riddles. He only did it for two reasons: either because he was in a mood and wanted to make me frustrated for a good laugh, or he honest to god could not tell me directly and he needed me to figure it out on my own. It was bugging me that I couldn't figure out which of the two was the case right now, so I wasn't sure how seriously to take the situation. Well better safe than sorry, I guess. So instead of pouting over the fact that I was being forced to analyze a poem that may or may not have something to do with an alternate evil version of myself, I just recited the poem in my head and tried to make some sense of it.

_Father Time please take heed,_

_Of the words I'm 'bout to plead,_

_The moment's close the time is near,_

_To disclose my one true fear,_

_I face a foe I can't out-run,_

_The battle that cannot be won,_

_Please grant me entrance to your lair,_

_This is your wards most desperate prayer_

I groaned and massaged my head. What the heck was it supposed to say if it wasn't simply me asking for Clockwork's help when I thought I was turning evil? I found myself wishing for Sam's help. She was good with this poetry crap.

I scowled at the thought of my so-called friend. No, I didn't need Sam. I could do this without her stupid help. I did not need help from anyone. Okay well maybe besides Vlad and Clockwork, but they were the acceptations to the rule. I would figure this out without her because I wasn't as stupid and naive as they thought I was. Thinking they could hide their relationship from me because I was so 'clueless'. Yeah well I'd show them how clueless I was. I'd figure out this goddamned poem.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to refocus. Okay so, Mr. Lancer is always saying that you need to read a poem more than once to understand what it means. This didn't necessarily help me though because I had already memorized the thing and I had still thought it was only a call for help. I suppose I could take it apart and look at it a couple lines at a time. That could work. Okay so first two lines.

_Father Time please take heed, _

_Of the words I'm 'bout to plead, _

Okay well that was pretty straightforward. 'Father Time' was obviously Clockwork and I was obviously asking for his attention. I looked at the stupid lines forwards and backwards but this is all the meaning I could dredge up. They could only mean to get Clockwork's attention when I was 'pleading' something, indicating that I needed help or whatever. There was no other way to put it so I decided that I'd look at the next two lines. Maybe there was something I was missing there.

_The moment's close the time is near,_

_To disclose my one true fear,_

Okay now we were getting somewhere. The first of the two lines was pretty straight forward, unless you wanted to look at 'time' as a reference to Clockwork. But then that would only mean that Clockwork was close by and that didn't really make sense, especially since 'time' was referring to an object not a person in this case. The second line though, that one could get kind of tricky. '_To disclose my one true fear,'_ okay so what was my one true fear and who was I 'disclosing' it to? I had always assumed that I would be telling Clockwork that I was turning evil, but Clockwork already knew that that was my greatest fear. What does it mean to 'disclose' something anyway? I mean I know it kind of means 'reveal' information but is there something that I'm missing? I needed a dictionary. I rolled over again to open my mouth and ask Clockwork if he had one somewhere. I would usually be against something like looking into a stupid dictionary to figure out a stupid poem but I _was_ going to figure this out damit!

"Clockwork do you-" Clockwork cut me off by raising his arm and pointing to a bookshelf across the room. He didn't even spare me a glance. I rolled my eyes at the old ghost. Him and his 'all knowing' tendencies. I hauled myself off the floor and walked over to a niche in the room that served as a little sitting area. Clockwork had added it after I had come over more than a few times so that I could have a place to do my homework or to sit down when we talked. It was pretty cozy, situated against the wall of the tower and two huge cogs so that it created a room that was missing a fourth wall. The cogs were so huge that it gave you the impression that they were actually walls that were moving. It was pretty sweet. Anyway, I went over to the bookcase and pulled out a dictionary. I flopped down onto the sofa with the dictionary on my lap and spent about five minutes looking through the huge book for what I needed.

_Dis-close: to make known; reveal or uncover: to disclose a secret. to cause to appear; allow to be seen; lay open to view: In spring the violets disclose their fragrant petals. Obsolete . to open up; unfold._

Okay so it meant to 'reveal or uncover'. So I couldn't be disclosing anything to Clockwork because he already knew everything. The fact that I was disclosing something would mean that I had been hiding it in the first place so it was something I had been trying to cover up. That further eliminated Clockwork because, I of all people, knew how useless it was to hide anything from the time ghost. When he said he knew everything he wasn't kidding.

So I was going to reveal my greatest fear to someone who didn't already know it. There were very few people who I would reveal anything too, though. At one point I would have included Sam and Tucker on that list, but they weren't on it anymore. They knew of my evil future self anyway so even if I did still consider them friends they still wouldn't fit with the poem. Jazz, though I would trust her with anything, wouldn't fit either because she knew of my evil alternate self too. She probably knew my own fears better than I did now that she was in college and actually getting some formal education on being the psychologist she's always wanted to be. I honestly wouldn't trust my so-called _parents_ with keeping a weed alive at this point, so they were out. The only other person I could think of that I might _might _trust with this kind of information was Vlad but…

No.

No way.

There had to be something in the rest of the poem that would point me in another direction, there just _had_ to! Because I was not telling Vlad anything. He didn't need to know. He accepted me when he didn't know, he was happy when he didn't know, and I was planning on keeping it that way! There had to be something else in the poem. I mean if it can tell me to tell Vlad in one line, it can tell me not to tell him in another, right?

_I face a foe I can't outrun,_

_The battle that cannot be won,_

Well the first line was talking about me. You can't outrun yourself. Okay well technically _I could_ if I made a duplicate and we raced, but that wasn't the point! The line was obviously referring to the fact that I was the one that was causing myself trouble. You know what they say, "You are your own worst enemy". It was true; I'd had first hand experience in the matter. And the only battle that can't be won is one that never ends. The poem never specifies which side can't win, so if nobody is wining then nobody is losing either. And I don't care what sort of bullshit your parents or teachers tell you everybody _cannot_ be a winner. There is always a loser. The fact that there isn't a winner means that there isn't a loser either so that must mean the 'battle' is perpetual. You put the two lines together and you basically get my situation in a nutshell. I'm constantly fighting to make sure that I don't turn evil. So those two lines are basically identifying my fear. But there is still no way that I'm telling Vlad!

_Please grant me entrance to your lair,_

_This is your wards most desperate prayer._

But those are straightforward lines again! There had to be something I wasn't getting, something I was missing! I looked over to Clockwork, about to beg and plead with him to tell me I was getting this wrong. I was _not_ telling Vlad about my fear of turning evil and destroying the world! He would think I was weak or think I was an abomination, like my parents had! He would throw me out and I could _not_ let that happen! Vlad was all I had left. I was just warming up to the idea of maybe being his apprentice/heir thing or whatever and I desperately did not want to leave that behind to become some sort of ghost nomad! I looked up to find Clockwork had silently floated over to my little nook and was looking at me with a serious face. Okay, well Clockwork always had a serious face, but this face was significantly more serious than normal. My eyes got wide at what he was telling me with his serious face. No. Way.

"No." I knew what the Time Ghost was thinking. I could see it in his eyes and I was _not _doing it.

"Danny it is time." I stood up. The dictionary clattered to the floor.

"NO! There is no way! He never needs to find out. He is better not knowing! I don't care what you say! I am not telling him! He'll hate me and-"

"Danny you will calm down and listen to me or I will put you in Time Out again." Clockwork swelled slightly and pierced me with his pupil-less red eyes. I immediately shrunk back and sat back on the couch; against my will a whimper escaped my lips. Clockwork could be the scariest thing you've ever seen. Clockwork had the ability to make you feel like a baby with a simple look. It was easy to forget he possessed the power that he did when he was usually so nice and apathetic but he did still have it. Clockwork was the _single_ most powerful ghost in the Ghost Zone. The only reason that the Observants had any sway over him was because they were a combine force. If Clockwork were to go up against them individually, he would win, every time. It was why none of the Observants ever came to see him by themselves. Clockwork sighed again at seeing me so respondent and lowered himself.

"Danny, can you think of any other person who has more right to know of this alternate future? It was not just you that went into His creation. Vladimir was a part of Him as much as you were. You can no longer be alone in this. You are changing Danny; growing older. Your ideas about right and wrong, your concept of friends and family, are becoming more mature and I cannot properly guide you in this to ensure that your views do not become distorted. You need an adult who understands you and can help you overcome the obstacles that lay in your path. Vladimir is that adult. He needs to know Danny. It is time for him to know." I felt my eyes get itchy and I rubbed my fists into my eyes. I was not _crying. _The air in here was just really dry. I knew what Clockwork was saying was true. He was fucking Clockwork of course he was right; he was the freaking Master of Time. It didn't mean I had to like it, but it meant he was probably right.

In a way it made a lot of sense. My evil alternate future had been _Vlad's _evil alternate future too. Why did I get to know about it while he didn't? I guess if he found out about Him it wouldn't be so bad because He wasn't just me, He was Vlad too. Vlad couldn't blame me or hate me for Him because Vlad was as big a part of Him as I was. I sighed and started resigning myself to my fate. I was going to have to tell Vlad. He would probably think I was crazy or delusional. He would probably start to hate me and he might even kick me out of his house because if I stayed we might rip out our ghost halves and end the world. It didn't matter what I thought though, Clockwork was going to make this happen and it could happen with me kicking and screaming or it could happen with my cooperation. I mindlessly got up to follow Clockwork like a lost puppy as he floated back towards his viewing portals. Clockwork spoke in that smooth way as we moved.

"Now we must retrieve Vladimir and bring him back here before he gathers the entire Ghost Zone and forces them to participate in a dimension/world wide search and rescue mission." I looked up curiously at the viewing portal we were floating in front of.

_The picture was of Vlad floating in front of his Ghost Portal on the Ghost Zone side. He was floating before at least two hundred Shades he had made of himself. _

"_Spread the word that every Ghost who values their existence will gather here in no less than an hour! Go!" Like a mass of overlarge bats the black shapes scattered away in every possible direction. Vlad merely hovered before the portal for a few moments before he clenched his fists and electricity arched over his form like he was a malfunctioning power plant in a bad science fiction movie. He pulsed with power as red waves of ecto energy radiated off of him. His eyes had darkened to a maroon that was almost black. _

"_I will find the ghost that took you Daniel, and when I do they will wish that they had never been formed."_

I looked back and forth between a smirking Clockwork and the screen in front of us.

"Well shit." Clockwork raised his eyebrow.

"Danny, I am going to retrieve Vladimir and he is not going to be happy when he gets here. I will need to prove to him that I am The Master of Time and I will require that you do not interfere with my methods as I do so. I am asking you to stay out of my way, even if my methods seem a bit, unorthodox. You might recall our first encounter? In order for me to have his full attention, you will need to be out of sight. I believe you can manage that easily enough?" I was confused for a minute before realization dawned. Clockwork was going to break out the super scary act. I looked up to him and reluctantly nodded before flickering to invisibility.

"I'll stay out of it, but don't hurt him. I won't let you hurt him." Clockwork only smiled warmly at me.

"I assure you he will be perfectly safe while he is here. Just as you are." Suddenly I felt the ability to move or do anything vanish and I inwardly grumbled as I spotted Clockwork's thumb moving from the button on the top of his staff. I was now stuck, invisible and immobile, until Clockwork decided I could move again. I was mad at first but I supposed that it was for the better. I wasn't sure I would be able to stop myself or keep quite if things started to look bad. It wasn't that I didn't trust Clockwork, it was just my 'hero reflex', as Jazz liked to call it.

I watched in sort of detached fascination as Clockwork wandered back over to his viewing portals and plunged his hands through the largest one.

* * *

**Vlad's POV**

It had been a particularly good day at the office. I had confused more than a few people, as I had not been able to keep the smile from my usually stoic face. Helena, my secretary, had actually blushed when I teasingly flirted with her this morning. I couldn't bring myself to care if I was working against the "untouchable" image I had carefully constructed myself. Really, I couldn't bring myself to care about much besides the fact that Daniel had all but come out and said he wanted to be my son this morning.

Daniel.

My son.

Mine.

Forget cloud nine, I was on cloud nineteen. Daniel wanted to be my son. Daniel wanted me to fill the parental role in his life. Daniel wanted to be my family. Daniel wanted to be associated with my last name. Daniel wanted me to guide him in life. Daniel looked up to me in a fatherly capacity. I had come up with twenty other ways to say it but it all came down to the same thing.

Daniel saw me as a father like I saw him as a son.

I felt happier than I could ever remember being in my life. It was like I had never been happy before, though I new I had been at one point, but that had only been some sort of farce and I only now was I truly experiencing happiness. I wasn't sure it _was _happiness and not some type of euphoria. I felt like a child that could not sit still. I had this unexplainable _need _to _move_ and somehow find and outlet for all of this happiness I was feeling because surely if I let it build up, my chest would start to ache from the sheer volume of it. My leg would bounce without my knowing so as I sat at my desk. I would get up to pace in front of my desk. I fidgeted endlessly with the nick-knacks and souvenirs that decorated my office. Every once in a while I would let out a chuckle for no reason whatsoever. I found myself muttering "Daniel James Masters" under my breath over and over and truly _tasting_ the words as they rolled off my tongue. I could not pry the smile from my face and I couldn't bring myself to care. Every time I tried it would only grow wider.

Mine.

The only drawback was that I could not tell anyone. I wanted to pick up the phone and call a press conference. I wanted to scream it from the rooftops. I wanted to go sprinting through the building telling everyone the news. I wanted to post the news on billboards and bus seats and newspaper adds where everyone could see. I wanted to go to the Ghost Zone and force everyone to listen as I told them of this wonderful glorious news.

Daniel wanted me as a father.

But that was hardly a damper on my mood. I had already started plotting to make Daniel mine legally. I would fabricate some sort of allegations that the Fenton's had abused Daniel, which was hardly far from the truth. Then I would take custody of Daniel and make him mine and everyone would know. It would be all over the news and there would not be a single soul that was ignorant of the fact that Daniel was mine. Because now that Daniel had expressed his willingness to be a son to me I was not letting him go. I had him. I finally had him and I was never letting anything take him away from me.

Because I had Daniel at my side willingly and I would bring hell on earth before I let that change. I had a son and there would be no mercy for anyone who ever tried to change that. Daniel was my son now. I didn't particularly care that there was no documentation to prove it or that I had not sired him. I didn't give a flying funnel cake about any of that. He was my son because I said so and I would not tolerate anyone saying anything to the contrary. I wouldn't hear it. Daniel was looking up to me as a father now and that meant that I could claim him as my son. That was that, I didn't need any further reason or proof. Daniel was my son, he wanted to be my son and I was going to be his father and that was the end of it.

There was so much to do. I would make sure Daniel got nothing but the best. Of course he was already getting nothing but the best since he had been living with me, but I would certainly ensure that that continued. He would want for nothing. His every whim would be entertained because my son deserved nothing less. Of course there would be severe punishment for those who failed to rise to those expectations. I would teach Daniel how to handle money and the notoriety that came with it. I would teach him to manage people and be a leader. I would train him in his ghost powers and show him all of the little tricks I had picked up over the years. I would teach him how to read people, how to tell the good from the bad.

I would go to his parent/teacher conferences. I would take him to work with me on take you child to work day and eventually train him to assume my position. I would buy him Christmas and Birthday presents that would make him scream with joy. I would take care of him when he was sick and make sure he got the best of care. We could have our picture taken together, a family portrait, and I would have it mounted above the fireplace in my office. He'd come to me with all of his 'girl problems' and he'd be extremely embarrassed when I gave him 'the talk' and it would be awkward but I would do it anyway because that's what fathers do. I would take him to all the Packers games and introduce him to all the players and get their pictures and autographs. We could go to NASA and we could tour the base and see the spaceships and meet the astronauts and he could talk with the best in the field. He could invite his favorite band over to 'hang out' and they would talk with him and teach him how to play some of their instruments. We could travel all over the world together as I was teaching him about my financial empire and we would do all sorts of things. I'd take him to meet the ghosts in the pyramids of Egypt. I'd make him try authentic Asian food without telling him what it was beforehand. I'd show him the temples of Greece and the history of the ghosts he knew that were recorded there.

Oh I had plans for Daniel. He would be perfectly happy in my care and he would always look up to me as his father with love, admiration, and respect. He would always know he was wanted and loved in my house and that he would always have a place at my side no matter how time went by or what happened Daniel would always be my son.

Mine.

And now that Daniel wanted this form me, that he wanted me to be his father. I could finally give this to him.

I leaned back in my office chair and stared out the tinted window at the sun as it started to make it's decent. It was about two o'clock now, a ways past noon. For the first time I could recall I was content with the day. The sun was in the wane and I didn't feel unsatisfied with how things had turned out. I didn't feel inadequate, or the need to prove anything. I was in control, I was satisfied, I was sated, and for once; Life was Go-

I jumped slightly as my phone started to go off at the corner of my desk. I looked at it strangely when I heard the ring tone. O'Fortuna? That wasn't a business call. Why on earth would I have programed…

_No. _

No no no, this was not happening. My hand shot out to grab the phone and I flipped it open with a violent 'snap'. My eyes darted over the small screen as text scrolled across the bottom while the text in the middle indicated this was a call from Daniel's laptop.

_Ghost detected within fifty feet. Ecto-energy readings undetermined. Threat level undetermined. Ghost's movement undetermined. _

I stared at the phone in disbelief. I could not bring myself to believe it. This was not happening. I was finally getting what I desired and my happiness was already being threatened. There was no possible way that this was a coincidence. Someone out there was laughing cruelly at me. I was clearly someone's plaything because this could not be happening. I refused to believe that this was possible. I would not, could not, be doomed to a life of misery. I would not have this one blasted thing taken away from me. I would take it up with whatever higher power myself. I scanned the lines of text again.

Undetermined. That left two options; either the ghost that was being picked up was so weak that the sensors in the computer were having a hard time measuring it, making it harmless. Or it was so powerful that the sensors in the computer couldn't contextualize it, making it extremely dangerous. I got up out of my chair and walked around the desk towards the door my eyes were glued to the screen of my cellphone.

"Helena I'm leaving early today. Some personal matters have come up and I need to attend to them immediately." I didn't hear her response or the note of concern and confusion in her voice. I didn't realize that my feet were moving underneath me, taking me to the staircase where I could travel without suspicion. I was completely focused on the task at hand. All that mattered was Daniel and his safety. I was not taking any chances. First I would go to the main office at Daniel's school and excuse him so I could remove him from the situation. That was my first priority. Daniel would not be in the middle of this, whatever this was. Then I would assess the threat and eliminate it. It was as simple as that. Daniel would not be put in harms way and nothing overly dramatic would happen. I walked seven steps down the staircase, morphed to my ghost half and teleported to the men's room in Daniel's school.

I appeared in a stall that was 'out of order'. In reality I had come to the school before Daniel had even started attending and sealed the lock shut from the inside so I would have a place to teleport without suspicion, just in case of emergency. The school was incredibly frugal when it came to funding their janitorial staff, so I was guaranteed a spot to teleport for at least two months. I shut my phone, careful not to make any noise. I listened intently for any indication that someone else was in the bathroom before I deemed it safe. With a quick flash of black light I transformed back to my human half and phased through the jammed door. Wasting no time I made my way towards the main office. I pushed the main office door open without pre-amble and walked in on a scene that was not making me feel any better about this whole predicament.

"Shh Bill, it's going to be okay. Nothing is happening. None of it's real. Your chauffer will be here in a just a little bit to take you home and you can get some rest alright?" The school Nurse, whom I was familiar with due to Daniel's mishap with one Mr. Laurie, was rubbing circles over the back of a boy Daniel's age. William, if the Nurse was to be believed. He was hugging his knees to his chest, shivering and twitching, muttering the same thing over and over again. "Masters, Masters, Masters." His face was red and his eyes darted around the room frantically. Almost at once they landed on me and he seemed to shrink even further on himself in fear. I merely looked upon the boy with indifference before continuing further into the office. I could not bring myself to care about his state, but the fact that he was muttering my last name implied that Daniel had something to do with why William was in such a condition. That was not doing anything for my anxiety over the situation. I made it to the main desk and saw that the secretary was not there. I growled lightly in frustration when the door to the office opened again. A very flustered and red-faced woman with a large coffee stain on her shirt walked into the room. I immediately started talking over the Nurse, who was also vying for the woman's attention.

"I will be excusing Daniel from the remainder of his day. Some important family matters have come up that need his and my immediate attention. You will inform me of his current location so that I may retrieve him personally." The threat in my voice was unmistakable. The Nurse gave me a glare, which I returned ten fold. William shrunk further on himself, stuttering all the while. The secretary moved with haste towards her desk, typing on her keyboard before she had even sat down. There were a few moments where I stared impatiently at the secretary and she hammered away on the keyboard, occasionally moving to click something. She briefly looked up to me and upon seeing my inpatients, looked away and towards the other occupants of the room.

"Yes, Daniel Masters is currently in fifth period which in his schedule is fencing. You'll need to take this hallway all the way to its end, take a right, take a left, and the dueling room will be on your right." I was already on my way out the door as the secretary's finished her instructions behind me. I marched down the hallway; all of my senses were on high alert. I stretched out my ghost sense and tried to feel for the threat. I did have a ghost sense, though mine was not as sensitive or as obvious as Daniel's. I was not at all pacified when I could pick up nothing. Not Daniel, or another ghost. However that did not mean that another ghost wasn't there and that Daniel wasn't just in his human form. I had never come across another ghost that could suppress their ghost signature but there was a first time for everything.

I came up to a pair of metal doors and I did not hesitate to push them inward. I winced as the loud clanging and shouting hit my unprepared ears. Continuing forward however, I quickly identified the authority figure in the room and was striding purposefully through the middle of various duels without a care that I might be getting in the way. I dodged swiftly and instinctively through several flailing swords as I moved towards the figure in black. I did not care that the boys I was interrupting looked upon me in confusion and awe as I thoughtlessly dodged their swords. I didn't give one wit that the boys were piecing together where Daniel must have gotten his combative skills as I maneuvered impossibly through a field of flying blades. It did not matter that I was perhaps revealing more about my self than was necessary. It wasn't long before the room had gone quite and all of the dueling had stopped as the boys I had not deliberately stepped in front of finally noticed my presence. I did not hesitate to speak when I was within range of the instructor.

"You will pardon my interruption but I am here to retrieve Daniel. Some family matters have come up that need immediate attention." The man had the gall to look upon me with amusement, perhaps at my rather direct route across the room. I quickly quelled his carefree attitude with a glare that promised pain. He blushed and lightly coughed before he spoke.

"Of course Mr. Masters. He just excused himself to the bathroom-." As soon as the word 'bathroom' had passed the peon's lips I was striding toward the clearly indicated locker rooms along the far wall. 'Bathroom' may as well have been code for 'Something is wrong and I'm going to go change to my ghost half to investigate it,' as far as Daniel and I were concerned. The fact that Daniel had seen the need to excuse himself or had felt the need to 'go ghost' as he so adamantly referred to it was not sitting well with me. It meant that the sensors in the computer had not been the only ones to pick up the ghosts presence. This was not boding well. I briskly opened the door and extended my senses to see if Daniel was in his ghost form somewhere within the room. I didn't sense anything so I listened carefully for breathing or the rustling of fabric. Once again there was nothing.

"Daniel, are you in here?" My voice echoed clearly through the room. True fear started seep into my chest as I got no response. What if I was too late? What if Daniel wasn't here? What if…

No, I wouldn't think about that right now. I couldn't focus of the 'what if' scenario, that was a fools mistake. Daniel had to be here somewhere. He was simply playing one of his inane games with me. I went over to the bathroom stalls and in a vain hope started to push every one of the stalls open.

"Daniel, I swear if you are horsing around…" I came to the last stall and there was no Daniel inside. With the visual confirmation that Daniel wasn't here my movements seemed to become more frantic. I caught sight of the dressing stalls and hurriedly walked over to those. I had foregone pushing the doors open and just phased quickly through the stalls. Not a single one contained Daniel. Panic seemed to rearrange its grip on my heart as it became painfully obvious that I had absolutely no idea where Daniel was. Dread coiled around my lungs and heart, squeezing them like a boa constrictor. There was no other explanation for it.

Someone, or something had taken him.

My breathing started to become erratic and short. No. No no no no NO! Not after I had only _just_ gotten him. My eyes darted around the room frantically as I racked my brain for a plan of action. I had to do something, there had to be some clue as to where he was. Daniel was a smart, resourceful boy; he would be able to handle himself for a while. He used to deal with _me_ on a regular basis, Daniel could at least hold whatever it was at bay. I just needed to get to him. I just needed to find him and everything would go back to exactly the way it was before. I would find him and save him and he would be perfectly fine. I would utterly decimate whatever had taken Daniel from me in the first place, leaving no remains to suggest that the being had ever been in existence so that this would never happen again. Nothing was going to happen. Everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to be fine.

My hands started to shake and the room started to get hot.

I was not convincing myself to calm down very well.

I searched the room for the locker that was labeled for Daniel. I needed a plan. I was good with plans. I knew how to make a plan. First I had to identify the goal. The goal here was to find Daniel. The first step to doing that would be finding Daniel's laptop and seeing what sort of readings it had picked up. I found Daniel's locker and quickly phased the lock open. Daniel's brief case was sitting innocently on at the bottom of the locker. I snatched it up and swung it to rest on the bench that sat before the lockers. I quickly grabbed Daniel's laptop out of its place and sat down on the bench placing the laptop on my knee. Impatiently I charged a finger and placed it on the mouse pad. I waited thirty agonizing, extremely long seconds before I was given access.

As soon as the screen was loaded I was bringing up the proper windows. I searched through the database of recordings the sensors had picked up so far. The sensors recorded ecto-energy and put it in a graph form, not unlike a seismograph. There were a collection of purple lines near the bottom that didn't spike much, these were recordings of regular ambient energy that was present everywhere. Above these near the middle of the graph was a green line. This represented Daniel. It seemed to spike at regular intervals, I presumed as Daniel used his ghost powers for mundane things on a regular basis throughout the day. A red line would spike up and plateau just above Daniel's line before it would disappear in a distinct pattern as well. This was my line as it registered my presence near the laptop after school every day. I kept scrolling until I got closer to the current recordings. All of the sudden Daniel's line spiked and instead of going back down, it plateaued. There was a second green line however, that went back to its previous inactive level. The second line indicated that Daniel had made a duplicate. I ignored the lower line, which was obviously a duplicate Daniel had created to go about his day as usual and focused on the line showing more activity. The line was sporadic and would spike even from its raised state, which indicated Daniel was using his ghost powers in his ghost form. The spikes were seemingly random and were interrupted by long breaks. I don't know what Daniel was doing with his powers but their usage was too spread out to be indicative of anything combative in nature.

I kept scrolling and that's when something strange seemed to happen. Daniel's line seemed to incline, not spike, but gradually rise as if he were slowly losing control. The only thing I could think of was that he might have been emotionally stressed in some way. If he was, then a ghost hadn't caused it, because there were no new lines. I paled as I came across what must have alerted me to a ghostly presence in the first place. Over a span of no more than two seconds was a solid vertical white bar reaching from the bottom of the screen to the top. It was as if there had been so much power in the area for those two seconds that the computer had not known how to represent it, so it had settled for a complete overshadowing of everything else. After the white bar both Daniel's duplicate and the original disappeared. There was no drop off the graph that would suggest Daniel had been bodily hauled away, he just vanished.

I snapped the computer shut. This was not good. Daniel could literally be anywhere. I would not be able to track Daniel down on my own. I would need _help._ I shuttered at the term. I however had no choice. I had a lot of ground to cover and despite the fact that I could make 136 full duplicates of myself, or 1,204 Shades, dividing myself so many times would leave the individual copies weak and unable to do much more than fly or speak. I, the original, would be reduced to the most basic of ghost powers, flight, intangibility, and invisibility. I could not so sparsely divide my power for when I did find Daniel and whatever had taken him away, I would need to have access to all of my energy to destroy whatever had taken Daniel away in the first place.

Quickly a plan of action was forming. I forced all of my worry and panic to the back of my mind as plans and backup plans were mapped out rapidly in my head. I picked up Daniel's laptop put it back in Daniel's briefcase and locked it. I stood up, morphed to my ghost half, and teleported to my lab. The room I appeared in was completely dark, but had no trouble seeing. I didn't bother to turn the lights on as I went about getting what I would need. Daniel's brief case quickly found a place on the counter before I was flying across the lab to collect a few of my more powerful items. I came to a large heavily built safe. The space on the inside was no more than that of a square foot, but the outside of the safe made it appear to take up the space of a refrigerator. I entered a pin number into a key pad, gave it my ecto energy, my finger print, an iris scan, a voice recognition test, a password, a blood sample, and answered no less than ten security questions with trick answers before I was allowed to open the safe. Inside were five glass tubes capped on the ends with stainless steel; the length and width of a stick of children's glue. They pulsed red and as I reached forward they seemed to glow brighter and almost lean towards my hand.

These were for emergencies only. Inside each of these filaments was enough energy to completely rejuvenate me after I had been forced to return to my human state. They would allow me to get back up and keep fighting as if I had only just arrived, even if I spent all of my energy and I was on the verge of unconsciousness. I could not however, absorb these before I reached that point, as my body wouldn't be able to handle the energy overload. I would be destroyed from the inside out. The shear power in one of these containers could easily decimate a city the size of New York. It had taken a year, each, to fill the containers with unfocused ecto-energy. I could not simply charge them like a battery until I wore myself out. The energy in these containers was different in that I had not given it a specified purpose. It had been extracted painfully, a little at a time, leaving the opportunity to regenerate between harvests, from my ghostly core.

When I call forth energy, it is always with an intention. Whether it is benign or no, it is forced by my ghostly core into a form that will serve the purpose I have willed it. After the energy has been given a purpose and released from my control I cannot go back and alter it. Let's say that I created an ecto-blast and instead of firing it, or reabsorbing it before it left my palm, I stored it somehow outside of my body. If I were to go back to this ecto-blast I would not be able to reabsorb the energy, because it had been disconnected from myself with the intent to harm. It would only explode, because that was what it was designed to do. The energy in these tubes has been carefully extracted directly from my ghostly core; so that I might be able to absorb it directly back into myself. Essentially what was in these tubes was a stock of my raw unfocused power that had been forcefully separated from my core.

I clipped all five of the containers to the back of my belt so that they would be covered by my cape and no one would be aware of their presence unless I were to remove my cape or push it aside. Sufficiently prepared I floated over to my ghost portal and entered the sequence of codes I needed to open it. I waited impatiently for it to hiss open. Closing the doors behind me I focused and formed about two hundred and fifty Shades. They congregated around me and waited for my order.

"Spread the word that every Ghost who values their existence will gather here in no less than an hour! Go!"

Just because I needed help did not mean I had to be gracious in how I went about obtaining it. I would make it very clear that nobody had a choice. They would aid me or suffer the consequences.

My Shades scattered away from me in all different directions and I was left to wait. Even as I was going hundreds of directions at once, I felt utterly useless as I, the original, was forced to wait for backup. It was now, that I had nothing further to do until assistance arrived, that I felt anger and rage at this situation start to truly creep into my veins. Before now it had been overshadowed by concern and panic. I had buried even those emotions under the need to formulate a plan, but now I was idle, and with nothing to occupy my mind, the devil came out to play. I found myself struggling to contain my energy as sheer unadulterated hate for this unknown entity built up in my system.

How dare this being take Daniel away from me. How DARE they! Daniel was MINE and NOBODY ELSE'S! Whoever had the audacity to take Daniel from me would be paying oh _so very_ dearly. There would be no remains. Nothing even remotely associated with whoever this was would be left. I would wipe them completely from this plane and the next. First I would carefully deconstruct their anatomy, tearing off their limbs slowly, one by one, being careful to cauterize the wounds so that they wouldn't bleed out. Then I would incinerate the limbs and turn the flesh to dust in front of them. I would carve my name into their torso before tearing the gashes open wider with my bare hands and stuffing the ashes from their own cremated remains inside. I would relish as I clutched their existence in my hands and slowly I would drain their life force away from them. I would cherish their screams of utter agony and I would laugh as they begged fruitlessly for mercy that there was no chance I would give. I would stare them in the eyes and smile at them as they realized that they had messed with the wrong person when they took My Daniel from me. I would torture them until they begged to be annihilated, and then I would torture them some more, not granting them a shred of mercy. They would be so entrenched in their own feelings of pain they would forget that any other sensation had existed. Nobody would take my son from me and get away, _no one._ My fists coiled unwittingly at my sides and I briefly registered the smell of ozone as I made my promise.

"I will find the ghost that took you Daniel, and when I do they will wish that they had never been formed."

Two hands grabbed onto my shoulders and I didn't have time to blink before I was being pulled backwards. All two hundred and fifty eight Shades were forcefully remerged with me as I felt the very strange but identifiable feeling of traveling through a portal.


	46. Chapter 46: Drugs Are Bad, M'Kay?

AN:/ Okay, the chapter has fermented to the point that I like it. I have sat on it, and like a fine wine it has aged to the point that I am happy with it. There are a lot of things in this chapter that I like. There is plenty of drama to go around, and a few unexpected twists that i think will throw a few of you off. I feel like a few of you will have questions, I would urge you to please please ask them so I can answer them for you. whether you message me or leave a review, if there is anything in this chapter that confuses you or you have questions about, please let me know. i am just really excited with this chapter. Please let me know how you think I did. And not just the whole "OMG THAT WAS AWESOME" generic squeally review. I want some specific thoughts! so yeah. happy reading! (you get extra bonus points if you understand the refrence in the title.)

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 46: Drugs Are Bad, M'kay?

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Orginally Uploaded: Wednesday March 14, 2012, 12:34PM_

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**IMPORTANT: **You are going to notice a few things, mainly that Clockwork never changes age. Frankly writing his periodic age changes annoys the hell out of me, almost as much as making Danny's voice crack (I realize the cracking frequency is unrealistic, this will be explained in later chapters). I don't feel like it's that important, and i think it might have taken away from Clockwork as a character in this instance. So he stays in his "young adult" form throughout. Also, I mention that Danny's evil alternate future self does not exisist, that's because in my world he doesn't. As soon as Danny turns himself in at the C.A.T. Dan is gone, poof, never existed. Because frankly, Evil alternate future Danny is too cliche for me. I don't like him. He is often written in a tacky exadgerated manner that pisses me off, so i'm killing him as a result. There is no threat of him escaping from the thermos, and Danny is aware of this. This does not affect Danny's fear that he still might one day turn into the monster he defeated. If you have other questions, review or PM me. ONWARD!

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**Vlad's POV**

I fell to the ground as I emerged on the opposite side of the portal. Immediately I sprung to my feet. Where was I? What was going on? Who had grabbed me? They were going to pay dearly for interrupting my search…

"Time Out!"

I instantly lost my ability to move. I only retained the movement of my eyes and I didn't hesitate to use that little movement to my advantage. The room was relatively large. Cogs and gears were scattered everywhere, aimlessly spinning in all different directions. The sound of thousands of clocks ticking permeated the air. Televisions of some sort covered the far wall. My inspection of the room was interrupted as a ghost in a deep purple cloak appeared in my line of sight. His face was hidden, angled downward and covered by a hood. In the center of the ghost's torso was a glass door revealing a hallow cavern that housed a grandfather clock. He held a scythe that gleamed in the unearthly light of the place. Immediately mistrust of this being formed in my chest. I struggled to free myself so I would be able to defend against this new specter but I could not even strain my muscles. It was as if I was completely frozen and had no control over my body. The ghost spoke as he raised his head, revealing blood red eyes. A long scar stretched down his face and his pale blue skin. His voice was deep and resonated in the air around him making everything quiver in anticipation.

"Welcome to my Tower, Vladimir Plasmius. I have been… expecting you." I looked upon the cloaked figure and racked my brain for any sort of information I had ever heard about a ghost who wore purple and had the ability to paralyze people. I could recall nothing of a ghost who had red eyes, an eerie scar, and carried a scythe. I was facing an unknown entity. I truly had no idea what I was up against, and it seemed as if it had immense power. The ghost stole my attention back as it continued to speak. "I am known by many names, Vladimir, many which you may be familiar with?" the ghost paused as if giving me a moment to think before he started rattling off names. Indeed, I was familiar with them. "Chronus, Kronos, Corone, Saturn, The Grim Reaper, Father Time; but perhaps most recently Clockwork, Master of Time. It is a pleasure to finally be of your… acquaintance." The words fell sibilantly from the ghost's lips. He moved towards me and casually ran his fingers, almost lovingly across the top of the scythe he carried. All of my attention was on the blade and the way he caressed it. I could do nothing to protect my exposed neck. I was completely helpless.

It was not as if I was being held by something outside of my body. It was more like my body was holding _itself_ so still, like it was resisting movement instead of fighting against it. It disturbed me more than I cared to admit. I had been caught unawares and I was now at this ghost's mercy, which obviously had some malicious intent. I struggled to believe that this malicious character was in fact 'Clockwork'. Daniel had described him as a stubborn grandfatherly figure. This could not be the Master of Time, or at least not the one that was so endearingly referred to in Daniel's journal. Daniel would never befriend a character such as this. This character was more fitting of the title of the Grim Reaper than anything else he had rattled off. There was a deep velvet chuckle almost as in a response to my thoughts.

"Yes, the Dark Ages. People then were rather fond of giving me that particular title. But death is only a small faction of my duty: to guard over time and its many intricacies. It has been necessary for certain elements to be…eliminated in order to keep balance, but that is not my sole purpose. I guard over time and its many twists and turns; I ensure that it flows properly and continuously. I see everything, know everything… past, present, and possible futures." The absurd and rather arrogant claim caught me off guard. No one could know _everything_. To have the entity claim so boldly that he knew everything pegged him as an imposter more than anything. Suddenly this 'Clockwork' held up his scythe, and poised it teasingly above my neck. I renewed my struggle to get my limbs to cooperate without success. I was not even allowed the liberty of a hyperactive core, the ghostly equivalent of a frantic heartbeat. He smiled in a particularly amused manner. This being who called himself Clockwork started to speak once more.

"Time In." His scythe stroked quickly downward and it was only my instinct to pull back that saved, quite literally, my neck. For after Clockwork had declared 'time in' I found myself able to move. I took several more steps back and my hands immediately lit with ecto energy. I growled and kept my weight centered, ready to dodge at a moments notice. I did not immediately attack due to the unknown nature of this powerful being. I would be foolish to go rushing in against something of such immense power, I had learned long ago to pick my battles. Besides, what was more pressing at the moment was my need for information.

"Why am I here? What do you plan to do with me? How do I know you are truly who you say?" He twirled his scythe around in his hands casually, making me distinctly uncomfortable. He smiled and the light glinted maliciously off of his teeth. His voice was deep and old. It was the voice of a mountain: knowing and immovable.

"You are here because I have deemed it necessary. As to my plans, I hardly have any nefarious intent. In fact I believe you will thank me once we part ways. And you don't know who I say I am," Faster than I could process Clockwork had re-wielded his scythe and thrown it towards my position at the other end of the room. I went to dodge but I could not urge my muscles to go any faster than a snails pace. An inch from where the scythe would have plunged into my core it halted. It paused there for a moment before it started moving in reverse, away from me and back towards the ghost. He caught the scythe with the ease of long practice, "yet."

I stumbled backwards as I found myself suddenly able to move at normal speeds once again. A gasp escaped my mouth despite my efforts to contain it. My eyes were now glued to the ghost as I settled once again into a battle stance. Anxious electric energy positively cracked around me. I didn't know for sure who this being was or what they wanted from me but I would have to get out of here. I could not fight a ghost that could slow my movements and paralyze me from a distance. I could not waste time with a fight that had a predetermined winner. I still had to find Daniel, besides. That was still my main priority. To get out of here without a confrontation, however, I would need a distraction. I had to clench my muscles to prevent a shiver at the way the ghost seemed to smirk in response to my thoughts. Regardless I couldn't let this being know how wary I truly was. I put up a confidant front and proceeded to interrogate the being.

"You claim bold things. To be the Master of Time, Clockwork, you would hold immense power. If the legends are true than you would be the most powerful entity in the Ghost Zone. But how am I to know that you are whom you claim? If you are truly the Master of Time and know everything then you will be able to prove yourself with a display of your knowledge." The being smiled at me in that knowing way once more before it started to subtly drift closer. I quickly found myself backing away in equal measure. Displays of defiance and boldness would only get me killed if this being got close. Clockwork then began to speak; all the while that mischievous glint flickered in his eye.

"After you started developing your electric abilities, there was an unfortunate incident where you were caught out in a thunderstorm and started to unwittingly attract and conduct the lightning around you into the earth. Trillions of watts of power per strike were passed through you. You had no control over the energy, though it gave you a feeling of intoxication and euphoria like you have never known since. The energy did not harm you, even a small amount, not even burning your clothes, as it would have on a normal human. The lack of damage to your person after the event made you afraid of your own power, and your inability to control it. You developed a fear of lightning storms and what they could mean for you. You still harbor reservations about stepping out into them to this day, though you have since trained the power to a level of control that is unnatural for the usually sporadic element." I narrowed my eyes as I continued to slowly move backward away from the still slowly approaching ghost. That was very personal information, and I didn't know where he had gotten it. And though I was not _afraid _of lightning, like some child, I would admit that at one point the prospect of that much power passing through me without the ability to control or direct it had disturbed me greatly. But I had since worked tirelessly to tune my power and I could now direct and control the lightning in a thunderstorm as easily as a conductor directs an orchestra. I had no idea where this being had gotten this information or who had told him about that unfortunate incident, but just because he knew one bit of personal information about me and was familiar with the prowess of my electrical abilities did not make him all knowing. This Clockwork character merely smirked at me, continuing to fiddle with his scythe as he spoke again seemingly in response to my lack of reaction.

"You found your first grey hair on Monday, September 12, 1983 at 6:43 in the morning before school. You had a Biology test that you had been studying for all weekend, but you had been unable to study in peace because your father had been constantly pestering you about the invalidity of the science in the eyes of the Lord. You were fifteen." I jumped slightly when it seemed I hit the outer brick wall of the tower. I lightly tested it and I could not phase through. My anxiety kicked up as the ghost did not stop approaching. The fact that he had known the date my hair started graying was not helping my comfort level. No one, not a single soul beside myself, could have possibly known that. I remembered that day very clearly. As a fifteen year old with a grey hair I had been understandably distraught. I promptly plucked out the hair and flushed it down the toilet. I had not had to deal with another one until a month afterward. It was no secret that I had started to grey prematurely. My hair was as white as a ninety-year-olds and I was only forty-two. But how had this being known of that exact date? The day had been burned into my mind due to the horror that I had felt upon the hair's discovery, but surely the being was just guessing? Anyone could produce a series of numbers to make themselves sound legitimate. I myself had done so on multiple occasions. Surely he was merely gambling and had gotten lucky. The entity was speaking once more and I found myself staring in horror as he revealed more of my embarrassing past.

"When you turned six, and you became curious as to where babies came from, as all toddlers do, and your father decided to tell you the truth in exacting detail. You would not so much as breathe in the vicinity of the opposite sex for a week." I could only stare at what he had said. He continued to get closer and closer until he closed the two-foot gap between us and settled not a foot before my person. There was just no way he could have known that. Everyone who knew me at that stage in my life was dead or senile in old age by this point. How could he possibly have gotten-

"I know everything, Vladimir. I am Clockwork, Master of Time. I am the Past Present and Future. It is not wise to antagonize me. For, as many before you have known, life can be a short and difficult thing when Time is not on your side." The ghost bored his eyes into mine and there was so much knowing in those eyes, I found myself wanting to look away but not being able to; and this time it was not due to any physical limitation. I felt so small and insignificant, as if I were only three years old and looking into the eyes of an old war veteran. I could no longer doubt. I was truly in the presence of the Master of Time. No one else could have known that combination of information without my having told them beforehand. Dread coiled in my stomach, as my fate seemed to sprawl out before me. I was being maneuvered into a corner by The Master of Time. A smile crept onto the Ghosts face, this one different from those before. This one was benign, and filled with a sort of amusement and satisfaction. The change confused me and made me wary. The ghost turned his back to me and started to float away, towards the wall of screens. I held my ground by the wall, not following, still vigilant of this Clockwork despite his suddenly dismissive behavior. He started to speak without bothering to face me. The small show of disrespect irked me, despite the situation.

"Now that we have introductions out of the way, I believe you were in the process of looking for a certain young man I happen to be familiar with." I halted.

_Daniel._

I had completely forgotten about Daniel! Where was he? How much time had I had been here? How much time had I wasted that Daniel was out there at some unknown mercy? I started to look around for an exit once more so I could be gone and start my search. I had been selfishly pussyfooting around with this Clockwork character when Daniel was still out there in who knows what kind of danger. When my eyes wandered across the Time Master and a vain hope struck me. If I could convince him to help me look for Daniel… The risk he posed to me was negligible if-

"Vladimir, give me seven minutes and thirty nine seconds of your complete attention, and I will help you find Daniel." I didn't even have to think about it.

"You have it." Clockwork became somber before nodded.

"Very well, come here so that we may converse without shouting." I shifted my weight slightly but was still hesitant to approach. The Time Ghost sighed before he spoke once more. " I am not going to hurt you Vladimir. If I truly wanted to cause you harm I could have done so many times over before this point. I am not a monster. I do not play with my victims before I take them. You can be sure that if I were tasked with killing you it would have been fast and painless. I certainly wouldn't have wasted the time of day by making sure you knew whom you were dealing with, only to turn around and make your understanding a moot point. I do not like to waste time Vladimir." The last sentence was said with a clear note of annoyance and authority that I could not help but obey. Mostly without my knowing my limbs had taken me to the Time Masters side. The Ghost did not have an expression upon his face. His voice only fluctuated a small amount. It was as if he had devoid himself of all emotion, though I knew he possessed it, for he had shown that he could become annoyed and impatient, even vindictive.

"You know now of my existence, and before you leave you will be aware of how to contact me when you are in need of council. You will be tempted to find a way to ask me for favors or 'convince me' to help you. I cannot. I am not an ally for you to manipulate and utilize. I will never do anything because you ask me to. We may come to hold a friendly report, but I will never utilize my power specifically because it is to your advantage. Our goals may align, but know that if anything is accomplished because of my intervention that is to your betterment, it was merely a coincidence." Clockwork gave me a scolding glare and I felt fear creep into my chest against my will. I knew I had logically done nothing to upset this being, that he was merely giving me a warning. But I was all too aware that if this Clockwork decided I had done wrong, I would pay dearly and there was nothing could do about it. Before my anxiety could completely grip me once more Clockwork's gaze seemed to soften and I was reminded of a smile my grandfather Issak Zavovyeat used to give me when he was alive. "It is a lesson that Daniel has already learned, several times. You will do the same. You will become angry when I cannot or will not help you. I will not hold it against you. I will offer to you the same deal I have with Daniel. You may come to me for council or a person to talk to. You may not come to me expecting that I hold the solutions for all of your problems." There was a pause, as Clockwork seemed to sigh with his eyes alone.

"Daniel, however, is special in regards to how much of my…assistants… he is allowed. For reasons that will be explained to you by Daniel later, Daniel is my responsibility." Instantly a swell of protectiveness, jealously, and sadness swamped my chest. What? How? Why? Daniel is _my _responsibility. I was supposed to take care of him. Not this Clockwork! He was mine! My son! I jumped when I felt a heavy hand settle onto my shoulder. Somehow I did not feel the need to shrug it off or become defensive. It was like the touch was infused with calm and I could do nothing but succumb to its gestures of docility, like a drug had been infused into my system. I looked into the Time Ghost's eyes and the feeling only increased.

"I am responsible for Daniel's destiny. Because I interfered not long ago, to save him and the universe from a terrible fate, I have been tasked with ensuring he follows the correct paths in his life. I do not play or fulfill the role in his life you think I do. I am merely responsible for ensuring his life remains balanced. It is because of this that I am allowed to give Daniel more advice than would otherwise be allowed. It is because of this that I am more direct with Daniel than I have been with anyone in several millennia. If you must put me in a familial role of some sort, I am nothing more than the grandfather he comes to when he wants to get away from his troubles, to be spoiled like a child. Daniel uses me as a haven from his problems when they start to overwhelm him. I do not solve them, or make them go away. I merely give him perspective and time to collect himself. Do I care for Daniel? Yes. Am I a father figure to the boy? No." The hand was removed from my shoulder and I felt some of my indigence come back before grudging understanding took over. Very well. I knew, I suppose, that Daniel didn't see this Clockwork as anything more than what was already described. I had already summarized from Daniel's Journal that if anything, Clockwork was viewed in a somewhat 'godly' capacity and whose council was a 'last resort'. I would simply give Daniel no reason to have to come to the ghost with his problems. He would come to me before things ever got that far. Clockwork smirked before he turned his attention back over to the television like devices that lined the wall. He didn't spare me a glance as he continued to talk. He spun his scythe, which he had been carrying idly for the past minutes, and suddenly it turned into some sort of scepter with a clock at the top.

"Now I believe I promised you my help in finding a certain ghost powered young man?" Instantly all of my attention was on the ghost. I had let my focus waver again and I could not stop from scolding myself for it, despite the fact that my inattention was what would allow me tofind Daniel in the first place.

"Yes. Where is he?" Clockwork smirked before he clicked the button on the top of his scepter.

I jumped back as Daniel abruptly became visible beside the Time Ghost. There was a moment where nothing and nobody moved. I simply stared at Daniel and he back at me while Clockwork seemed uninterested and looked back to his screens. Finally my mind seemed to catch up with the rest of me and I found myself lunging towards Daniel without abandon.

"Daniel!" I crushed his small from against my chest. I could hear his back popping as I squeezed him relentlessly but I couldn't bring myself to care. My hand cupped the back of his head and forced it to rest against my shoulder. His arms were pinned to his sides by my own which encircled him completely. Relief uncoiled in my chest so quickly I felt tears pressing behind my eyes. I exhaled heavily in a warble that might have been mistaken for a sob. I pet his head and stroked his back, as if to make sure he was actually there. He had just appeared! I had not sensed him or heard him. I knew he was there. I could feel him in my arms, but my conscious mind was still trying to catch up to the fact.

"_V-Vlad…air…"_ a raspy voice sounded from the boy in my arms and I immediately relinquished my tight grip though I did not let go of him completely. I simply shifted my grip to his shoulders and held him at arms length. Daniel heaved in breaths before coughing. I frowned and raked the boy over with my eyes.

"Daniel, are you hurt? Do you need medical attention? Where have you been?" Unsatisfied with my visual inspection I turned the boy over, shoving his shoulders around to get a look at his backside. I patted down his arms before I grabbed his chin and gave his head a good once over. Daniel spoke indignantly as he tolerated my attentions.

"Vlad, chill. No~body's abducted me." My eyes snapped to Daniel's when I heard his voice crack. I raised an eyebrow before I zeroed in on his throat. Had he been using his Ghostly Wail? I swear I was going to have to do something about that blasted ability of he kept injuring himself like this. Anxiety reared its head and gave my stomach a squeeze as I had a thought. What sort of situation would be one where he would need to use his 'last resort' in the first place?

"Daniel is something wrong with your throat? Have you used your Ghostly Wail recently?" A furious blush rose to his cheeks and his hand came up to scratch the back of his neck. He hesitantly opened his mouth to respond but he didn't get any further than that when I got a good look at his teeth. An entirely new set of anxieties and concern swept over me.

"Daniel when did your fangs come in? Do you need any antiseptic? You have been biting your lip haven't you? I can tell, your lower lip looks like it's been mauled by some sort of rodent. You can't do that Daniel your fangs are going to be extremely sharp and sensitive for a month or so now that they've finally dropped. I'll have to get you some of the toothpaste I used when mine came in, that should help. You will have to brush your teeth in your ghost form and your human form but the decrease in abuse your mouth will suffer will be worth it." I had pried Daniel's mouth open and was examining the inside of his mouth. His lower lip was tender and my brows furrowed at the amount of bruising and scratches that had appeared there. What had the boy been doing, eating his lower lip for lunch?

"Vlad ser~iously! If you would get your hands off me and let me t~alk for more than three seconds I could explain what's going on." I frowned again when the boy's voice cracked. Honestly it sounded simply as if the boy's voice had finally decided to deepen, but I wasn't sure. The bizarrest things happened around Daniel and I could never assume anything with the boy. With a slight reprimanding glare I removed my hands from the boy and crossed them over my chest. I waited for an explanation. Daniel looked at me in exasperation, an embarrassed blush still coloring his cheeks.

"First of all, I was~n't abducted by anyone. I came here by myself be~cause I kind of freaked out when I loo~ked in the mirror and had fangs all of the sudden, and then my voice started cracking like a chi~cken egg. Second of all, if Clockwor~k is to be believed then there is nothing wrong with my voice, and it's just…pu~berty." Daniel's color deepened and he suddenly found his gloves extremely interesting. Anxiety over Daniel's condition slowly started to wane and a smirk crept onto my face. So the boy's voice _was_ finally changing. I was wondering when I would be dealing with the affects of that particular aspect of Daniel's rapid growth. The drastic difference in Daniel's voice was somewhat comical. Daniel had grown a good deal yes, but the deeper voice really did belong to someone of a much greater size. Oh well I suppose he would grow into it. He would simply sound slightly ridiculous until that point. My vindictive smirk only widened at the thought. I caught a small bit of movement from the corner of my eye as Clockwork shifted his potion slightly; bringing me down from some of my amusement. I still didn't know exactly how the boy had gotten here and that was information I was not willing to go without. I would be finding out the details.

"Daniel how did you get here in the first place. I've been to your school and excused you from class so that won't be a problem, but I also got a look at the ecto-sensors that I installed in your computer and they did not record that you flew out of the vicinity, it was as if you vanished." Daniel looked sheepish for a moment before a dawning of realization seemed to creep on his face. He looked up at me next with an accusation in his eyes.

"You put ecto-sensors in my laptop?" He looked aghast as if I had never done anything of the sort before. I rolled my eyes; honestly the boy should expect this behavior from me by now.

"Yes Daniel, I did. I also put them in your cell-phone. They are there for your own protection. They will send a message to my own phone if they pick up the presence of a ghost within a hundred yards. I was not going to send you out of my sight on a daily basis without some sort of alert system in place. Honestly Daniel you act as if this is the first time I've done something like this. I will not be taking them out either. They were the only reason I knew you had disappeared from school in the first place. What if I hadn't been alerted and I had not been there to excuse your absence before I took off to look for you? How would I have explained your sudden disappearance? Its' not as if I could have said you simply decided to skip class and take a hike through the woods instead. Now stop trying to stall by turning this conversation around on me and tell me how you got here in the first place." Daniel glared at me. He opened and closed his mouth as if he were about to say something, bringing his hands up to gesture, before he seemed to think better of the action and his hands and face would drop. After repeating this charade several times his shoulders collapsed and he mumbled something to himself. My eyebrows furrowed in concern when Daniel sent an almost a pleading look at Clockwork. Clockwork only shook his head before nodding towards me. Why on earth was Daniel so hesitant to tell me what was going on? Daniel had my full attention when he started speaking.

"I got here through an emer~gency portal. Clockwork gave me a password, really a pass-poem, to use if I ever need to ge~t to him in an emergency. All I had to do was find an analog clock, set it 7:57, and touch the cen~ter while I recited the poem and I would be brought directly here. So I got here of my own free will, not be~cause I was abducted or something." Daniel brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck. My brows furrowed at this new information. So he had activated some portal. I suppose that was plausible enough. Though, why had he felt the need to activate such a thing in the first place? He had already said that the cause for his distress had been the appearance of his fangs and his voices sudden decision to start changing, but that hardly seemed like an adequate reason for the state of emergency that was required to utilize something like direct access to the lair of The Ghost of Time. I opened my mouth to voice my concerns.

"Suppose Clockwork did give you a method of emergency contact, what caused you to think such contact was necessary? The computer indicated that there was no other ghost in the area. Surely fangs and a few cracked sentences would not be enough to cause such alarm?" I looked back and forth between Clockwork and Daniel. Clockwork looked upon Daniel as a parent would a child who was expected to explain himself. Daniel meanwhile played the part of a disobedient child rather well; shifting around on his feet and wringing his hands. He looked quickly up to Clockwork only to look immediately back to his hands upon seeing the ghosts face. What on earth was making Daniel so anxious? His nerves were starting to rub off. Daniel was not one to be so fearful or anxious. Daniel was the type who tackled problems head on. His bull-headedness was one of his more troublesome qualities. Daniel's hesitance and anxiety over this issue could not mean anything good. He would have to be facing something that absolutely terrified him for him to show such hesitance. Something that he feared so much he was hesitant to even speak of it.

At once my head snapped up. It all clicked so suddenly in my head that my arms fell limp to my sides. Daniel looked up to me with curiosity on his face at my sudden change in demeanor. My eyes grew wide and I found myself looking rapidly between Clockwork and Daniel. I don't know what it had to do with Daniel's changing physical state but the rest of it made too much sense. It all fit. It had to be…

"This has to do with 'Him' doesn't it?" Now Daniel's mouth dropped open and he stared at me as if I had grown two heads. He gaped for a long moment. His mouth opening and closing like a fish; eyes blinking owlishly. After a long moment he finally stuttered to life. His voice had gone up an octave.

"Y-You already know?" I recoiled slightly at the accusation in Daniel's voice. Taken slightly off guard, both by Daniel's utter surprise and my lack of tact in letting my assumptions tumble from my mouth. The shear panic in the boy's voice had me trying to placate him. I found myself thoughtlessly speaking like some sort of child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Not all of it. Only what you mentioned in your journal and you only ever referred to him with a pronoun. He was only ever mentioned in concert with Clockwork and you always seemed to fear 'Him' so I just thought-"

"You read my journal!" Daniel's voice, if at all possible, became even higher and he looked at me in complete and total shock. Dread settled like a large rock at the bottom of my stomach as I realized what I had just said. My mouth opened and closed as if I could re-swallow the words that had come spewing out of my mouth. I was not supposed to have been so tactless. What on earth had possessed me to say such things? I glanced to the side for Clockwork, perhaps subconsciously hoping for a way out. However when I looked aside Clockwork was gone. Daniel and I had been left to our own devices. Daniel at seeing the guilt clearly on my face resumed his exclamations of disbelief. He pointed at me like I was some sort of leper.

"You did! You read my journal! How did you even ge~t my journal? How long have you had it? Where is it? How mu~ch of it did you read?" His eyes bored into mine and I found I could not hold his gaze. There was so much betrayal, disappointment, and disbelief in those eyes. I opened my mouth, searching frantically for something to say, but the words all slipped through my fingers like water. All that came out of my mouth were a few noncommittal grunts. Daniel however, seemed to be able to interpret these just fine.

"You read the whole th~ing didn't you? Didn't you! Vlad, loo~k at me!" I found myself unwittingly obeying the desperation in that panicked voice. I watched in growing dread, as Daniel seemed to get all of the answers he needed simply from looking me in the eye. I watched the conviction form in the boy's eyes; the pieces were falling into place just behind those betrayed green orbs.

"You read my journal. My whole journal." Anger started creep into his voice and I could see the beginnings of rage creeping into Daniel's face. His hands started to flex at his sides and his eyes flared. I felt the weight of guilt start to settle on my heart and shoulders. I had to stop this. Daniel would have to understand.

"Daniel I-"

"Don't make ex~cuses for yourself Vlad, the guilt is writ~ten all over your face! What else did you do behind my ba~ck Plasmius? Are you still secretly planning to t~ake over the world? Have you released any dead k~ings lately? Stolen candy from a baby out of sp~ite?" I could feel the barbs sink into the meat of my heart, especially as he used that name. Plasmius was the name of Daniel's enemy, and I knew that was what he saw me as in this moment. I reached out towards the teen, pleading clear on my face. Daniel would have to understand. If he would only let me explain.

"Daniel, don't –" He recoiled away from me as if I would infect him. He took several steps backward.

"Don't tell me what to do Plas~mius. I bet you never really were there _to help_ _me_ were you? You probably just read my journal to learn how to manipul~ate me into thinking that you were a good guy. You used the information in my journal against me, to make me into your perfect little pet did~n't you?" I felt his words impact me like a physical blow. My lungs clenched and I found a lump in my throat making it difficult to swallow. It became difficult to breathe. I reached out towards Daniel again, pleading with him to understand. How could he say such things? What right did he have to make such claims? Anger and confusion at the boy's accusation and unwillingness to listen started to well up inside of me. Surely I had shown the boy that I at least genuinely cared for him? I pleaded with him to listen, to understand.

"Daniel, please listen." He glared at me.

"No, Vlad, you listen. I was just some t~ool to you, wasn't I? An object, that's what I am to you. You never really wan~ted me, the stupid rejected little freak, did you? I was just a kid with powers th~at you could use. You never cared! You never-umph!" Faster than Daniel could react I had taken the few steps to close the gap he had made between us. Anger at Daniel's unfounded accusations quickly overtook the feelings of guilt. My hand and clamped over his mouth in a vice like grip, my arm curled around his head possessively pinching his ears against his head. With my other arm I had brought the child close once more, trapping him against my broad chest. The boy was completely helpless in my clutches as I had complete control over his head neck and torso. The boy could not have escaped if he tried. He was completely at my mercy, unable to say any more unfounded words of accusation or point that damnable finger at me. I growled dangerously into the boy's ear.

"You insipid, puerile, thick-headed, imbicile." I would tolerate his words no longer. I would withstand the accusation that I had betrayed him, that I was somehow evil for what I had done, but I would never allow the boy to slander my feelings of affection in such a way. My voice was a deadly hiss as I scolded him in a whisper directly into his ear. I would tense around the boy and subtly shake him when my voice rose slightly from its monotone pallor. "Don't you _dare_ say I don't care about you. When am I going to get it through your thick-skull that you are the _only thing _I care about anymore? Damit all Daniel, I _love_ you! You are the son I never had, you are the family I always wanted, you are the center of my world. You give me a reason to continue my pitiful existence Daniel. Nothing matters more to me than you. _Absolutely nothing_. You are not the first teenager to have their diary stolen Daniel. Not by a long shot. And just like all of the other parents who have ever read their children's diaries, I too did it because I wanted to get to know you better; to know if there was anything you weren't telling me that I _should_ know about. You may call me evil. You may hate me and accuse me of villainy, but you will _never _accuse me of a lack of concern for your well-being. How _dare_ youeven _insinuate_ that I would do anything less than _die _for you. You will _never _accuse me of indifference to your welfare again _do you understand_?" I pulled the boy slightly away from me and allowed him enough mobility to nod. I held him like that staring into his eyes, my own gaze like steel. Never would the boy say such things to me. The thought would not so much as pass through his head. The child had no idea what he spoke of. No matter what happened, no matter what he thought of me I would always _care_ for Daniel.

I could not stop myself from softening my gaze slightly upon the scared and confused look on Daniel's face. Slowly I released my grasp on him. He did not move from his position as my hands fell from his head and back. Daniel merely remained where he was, not daring to move from his position, like a petrified animal.

I sighed and did not miss the flinch that my exhale caused. I did not want the boy to fear me, only to pay attention. I had simply gotten his attention in the only way I knew how, with force. Daniel shouldn't fear me but he clearly did. Had he even been aware enough to hear what I had said? Slowly I brought my hand up again, I watched as Daniel tracked it with his eyes like a hawk. I moved my hand towards his head and he shied away slightly before he allowed me to card my hand through his ivory locks. He seemed to relax ever so slightly with the motion. I repeated the action and applied a light pressure to the back of his head, drawing him towards me once again. This time I only held him lightly in a slight embrace, carding my hands though his hair. Hesitantly Daniel's stringy arms came up and encircled my own torso stiffly. Awkwardly he stood there, his arms around my waist as I ran my fingers through his hair and hummed ever so lightly, almost imperceptibly. Daniel's arms rearranged and tightened around me. I bent my head over his and spoke gently into his ear.

"I'm sorry I caused you distress Daniel, but I am not sorry I read your journal. The opportunity presented itself and I could not let it pass me by. I only wanted to know you, so that I could do what was best for you. I wanted to be the best that I could be for you Daniel, and I don't regret that your journal helped me do that. Honestly I did not learn much more than I hadn't already known from my previous spying." I felt Daniel lean away from me slightly and I allowed him to push against my chest so that he could look up at me. His face was pale and uncertain besides the splotches of red that covered his neck and cheeks.

"You should~n't have read my journal without as~king me first." I smirked down at Daniel.

"Perhaps, but you and I both know that if I had asked that you would have denied me anyway." Daniel glared lightly back at me.

"There is a reason for th~at you know. The stuff in there was supposed to only be for _me._ How would you like it if I knew all of your mo~st embarrassing moments and innermost thoughts?" I lifted an amused eyebrow.

"I, unlike you, do not leave records of my thoughts or embarrassing moments for others to peruse. So I have nothing to worry about in that regard." I only became confused and more than a little proud when Daniel adapted an evil smirk. It looked so good on him.

"Oh? You might want to make sure that Clin~ton keeps tighter lips then. You'd be amazed what he's willing to spill when he's got a willing pair of ears in his back sea~t for two hours every day." My eyes widened before they narrowed into a calculating squint. That double-crossing snitch!

"As much as I would love to continue watching this exchange, I do believe that I brought the both of you here because we had specific topics to discuss. And they will need to be discussed." Daniel slumped and moved away slightly with a blush as he looked to Clockwork, who had appeared a ways away from us, floating before a small sitting area. Daniel sighed as he wandered towards the Time Ghost.

" I was hoping you'd forgo~tten about that." Both Clockwork and I raised an eyebrow. Daniel only smirked. "Well c'mon I knew you wouldn't of course, but you can't st~op a guy from dreaming." I rolled my eyes and followed Daniel. Clockwork made a sweeping gesture with his arm inviting the pair of us to sit down. Daniel and I took our seats on opposing sofas so that we would be able to speak easily to each other. Clockwork refrained from sitting, instead hovering at the end of both of the sofas as if he were planning on being some sort of mediator. For all I knew that was his plan. The three of us simply sat there for a long moment in silence. When it was clear that Clockwork nor Daniel were going to start conversation I decided it would be up to me.  
"So I'm assuming my deduction that you were driven to Clockwork because of this 'Him', was correct then?" Daniel squirmed in his seat, sending pleading glances to Clockwork who merely looked back at Daniel with a face carved from stone. Daniel sighed and looked back to me before his gaze fell to his hands.

"Yeah, you were ri~ght. It doesn't sound like you know who 'He' is though. I was very ca~reful to leave that out of anything I wro~te down so you shouldn't know. But if you do, I would like to know how you figured out." Daniel gave me a suspicious look. I shook my head crossing my legs and placing my hands on the topmost knee.

"No I was never able to deduce who the infamous pronoun was." I didn't say anything further, not wanting to push Daniel into this if he was uncomfortable. Though it looked as if Daniel's lack of comfort was unavoidable. Daniel sent one last look to Clockwork before he let out an enormous sigh.

"He is an evil alt~ernate future version of myself. Ok~ay well really me and you. He is a result of both of our gho~st halves being ripped out and fused together." My eyebrows disappeared into my hairline. I was only barely able to stop my jaw from falling open. Well, that certainly wasn't what I had expected. I simply sat there and absorbed that bit of information. Our ghost halves had been _ripped out_? That was a rather barbaric thing to do, really. Who had been responsible for such a thing? And in an _evil alternate future_? Since when had Daniel taken up time travel as a hobby? Daniel took my silence as a cue to explain further, so before I had had enough time to process even this small bit of information, Daniel was prattling on. The most I could do was sit there and listen to the bizarre tale.

"It all star~ted when I cheated on my C.A.T's and a freak ac~cident with overheated Nasty Sauce caused my family, my teacher, and my friends to die in an ex~plosion. With no one left, I was se~nt to you so you could take care of me. I steadily became more and more depressed un~til I couldn't take it anymore and I asked you to rip out my ghost half." I sat there open mouthed. What in heavens name? I was about to speak up and ask Daniel to go back explain a few things when I was glared at by Clockwork. That very quickly convinced me to shut my mouth. Daniel was mostly lost in his thoughts by this point so he didn't notice anything. "So you ripped out my ghost half suc~cessfully, the problem was that my ghost half was not very happy. It decided to then rip out your ghost half. Our halves merged together and created the most powerful evil ghost to ever wal~k the earth or the Ghost Zone. 'He' was created and he destroyed everything in both dimensions.

So to prevent this Clo~ckwork was tasked with executing me so that that evil alternate future would never happen. He sent ghosts from the fu~ture to try and stop me. After I had defeated them all I was brought back to Clockwork's lair when I was tangled in a ghost's wre~ckage and was due to be sent back to it's time. I was transported back here and I met Clockwork. Then he 'tried' to kill me with his scythe. The only way out was to go to the fu~ture, with my evil alt~ernate future self so that was where I went. We fought and he won. I had to be kept alive though, because for him to exist I had to exist. So he fused a time medallion to my ghost core so that I would stay in the fu~ture while he went back to the future and made sure that my family and friends died.

He tied me up and threw me in~to the Ghost Zone where I met up with several of the ghosts he had beaten and disfigured. They were going to beat me up and kill me so in shear desperation I dis~covered and used my Ghostly Wail for the first time. I was then promptly hit in the head with the Booo-merang and it had a note at~tached to it from Jazz who had discovered about my evil future self and sent a note to me from the past. It said to go to the future you who was hiding in a secret bunker somewhere. So I went and met the fu~ture you who was old, hadn't shaved or bathed in years and had the full weight of all of his previous actions on his shoulders. There he used the same procedure that had crea~ted the evil alternate version of ourselves and took out the time medallion so that I could return to my own time.

Back in my own time I discovered Dan had strap~ped everyone to an already overheating vat of Nasty Sauce and was waiting for them to die. I fought my evil future self, again, and won but only barely. I had been changed to my human half and by the time I captured 'Him' the vat of sauce was set to blow anyway. I ran to~wards them as fast as I could but there was no way I was going to get to them in time. That's when Clockwor~k showed up and freed everyone and let me go back in time to stop from cheating on the C.A.T's so that none of that would ever happen." I simply sat there my eyes wide open as my brain tried desperately to come to terms with all of this new information. I stared at Daniel, waiting for him to tell me this was all some elaborate joke he had made up for his amusement. Instead Daniel merely brought his hand up to the back of his neck. "Uh… The End?" I fell back slightly against the couch. I looked from Clockwork to Daniel, waiting for either of them to start laughing hysterically. This was not the case. Clockwork remained stoic while Daniel would blush whenever he met my gaze. They truly were not jesting. The both of them were completely serious. It was then that the enormity of what I had just been told started to seep through my skull.

I _ripped out _his ghost half? A vat of _Nasty Sauce_? Daniel had dealt with all of this? All of this alternate time-line business. But he'd met me, in the future, and I hadn't bathed in _years_? It was difficult to wrap my head around. But none of it had happened anyway had it? And Clockwork had saved Daniel, even though he was supposed to execute him?

"Vlad are you-" I held up my hand impatiently, like a parent on the phone telling their child to be quite. How was I not informed of this? I was half of this apocalyptic creature, if I was correct. But then what was Daniel so afraid of if he never really existed in the first place? It was unthinkable that I would ever do anything so vulgar as to _rip out _Daniel's ghost half. That was completely absurd! It would create two emotionally unstable beings not cure depression! What on earth was I thinking? How idiotic! I looked back between Daniel and Clockwork.

"So if I understand correctly, then because Daniel cheated on a test, everyone dies, he becomes depressed, eventually I rip out his ghost half, who rips out my ghost half, and they combine to create 'Him', who destroys the world as we know it and this is what Daniel always talks about preventing in his journal?" I look to Clockwork, who smirks widely and gives me a single nod. I then look to Daniel and he blushes but manages to mumble out a "Yes."

I uncrossed my legs and leaned back on the couch. My hand came up to pinch the bridge of my nose. Chocolate covered crème puffs this had to be one of the most intellectually baffling concepts I had ever come across, and I had had to deal with being the first half dead person in existence! It was like someone who knew of mine and Daniel's 'condition' had taken a bad acid trip and recorded his or her insane hallucination. But it had to be true. Clockwork, the Master of Time, the most powerful entity in the Ghost Zone if rumors were to be believed, had confirmed Daniel's tale and even been an integral part of it. I tried to put the story together in my head once more and found myself massaging my temples.

"I wouldn't think about it too much. It gives me a headache too, anyway. I mostly just try to focus on the fact that if I don't turn evil none of it will happen anyway" I cracked open my eyes to see Daniel giving me a sheepish look. I shook my head at the teen and decided to drop it. It was not worth the headache if none of this had ever actually happened in the first place. Conversation came to a halt once more and we all sat there in silence. Daniel was clearly too mortified of what had just come out of his mouth to start conversation again and Clockwork seemed to be content to observe. I forced my brain to keep turning the information over in my head. Despite the fact that I had just been told quite a baffling tale, it occurred to me I still was not clear on what had made Daniel believe that he needed to see Clockwork so desperately.

"So, if this 'Him' doesn't actually exist anymore, then what could have possibly made you believe that you were turning into him? You would have needed to at least separate your own ghost half from your human half for this alternate future to come anywhere close to fruition. From what I can gather all that happen was that you were experiencing some of the less pleasant affects of puberty. How is this in any way related?" Daniel again blushed and started mumbling something into his chest that I couldn't understand.

"Daniel, make eye contact when you converse with others, and don't mumble." Daniel flushed a brighter red, but brought his head up to meet my gaze.

"He has fangs, and his voice sounds like mine when it cra~cks, and I made Bill cry and hide in a closet because I was following him around in my gho~st form." I nodded at the first two excuses in understanding but I could not withhold a snort at Daniel's last excuse. So that was why Mr. Ford had been in the mist of a mental breakdown in the main office. Daniel however, did not appreciate my humor.

"That wasn't funny Vlad. I shouldn't' have used my powers to tease Bill like that. I think I might have seriously screwed him up." A blush crept back onto Daniel's cheeks. I merely smirked.

"Oh Daniel, it's not like there was much there to 'screw up' in the first place. You will have to recount your escapades for me, I believe they would be most hilarious you always have had quite the imagination." Daniel growled at me.

"Vlad, that's not o~kay. What I did was wrong and I can't take advan~tage of people like that, it's just…" I rolled my eyes and draped my arm over the back of the couch as I rearranged my position.

"Fun? Hilarious? Clever? Mischievous? Entertaining?-"

"Vlad!" Daniel looked poised to stand up and scold me like I was some toddler. I raised an eyebrow at the teen. I had thought Daniel had moved past these notions of black and white? It was as if Daniel had been scared back into his old habits of ridiculous virtue by the idea of this 'Him'. At least that was the conclusion I came to based on the timing of Daniel's sudden change in attitude. Had he truly been unaware of the changes taking place in himself over the course of his stay with me? It was as if I were talking to the Daniel that had initially arrived on my doorstep and not the one who had slowly been warming up to the idea that the world was not composed solely of heroes and villains. Surely he had not gone so far backward?

"Daniel you are not a saint, contrary to what you seem to believe. I have no doubt you will do things like this again, and you will enjoy them. You'll undoubtedly come across someone else who will rub you the wrong way or the opportunity will present itself so perfectly and pristinely that you will not be able to help yourself from taking advantage of it. Just because you partake in some activities of mischief does not mean you a forever condemning yourself to pits of hell. It's not a capital offense to have a little fun at another's expense, especially if they are asking for it. The world is made of shades of grey Daniel; nothing is as black and white as your hazmat. It's all about moderation and discretion. There are lines that separate the truly cruel from the harmless pranks, but it is not as easy to cross those lines as you seem to think it is. Honestly Daniel, you are allowed to make mistakes, to have fun, to use your power for your own purpose and advantage. You'd be a fool not to use it." Daniel was about to actually get up off of the couch when Clockwork intervened.

"Vladimir is correct Danny. Listen to him." I recoiled lightly at the proclamation. Of course I believed what I said, I was speaking from experience. But truly the Ghost of Time was agreeing with my sentiments? You'd think he'd lean more towards Daniel's view of things. Daniel gaped like a fish, seemingly as surprised with the Ghosts declaration as I was. He sputtered and waved his arms at Clockwork, this time he did get out of his seat.

"C-clockwork! How can you say something like that! What about being a good person? What about helping others and my duty to use my power for good instead of evil? Are you saying I should use my powers to hurt people and to be general pain in the ass? How is that right?" Clockwork seemed to sigh with his eyes before he addressed Daniel in an almost scolding tone.

"Where were you headed Daniel, before you came to me in a panic over nothing more than a cracking voice and sharpened teeth? What if you had never become panicked or worried, would you have continued as you had been? Would the thought that you might have been doing wrong crossed your mind? Would the world have been the worse off if it hadn't?" I watched some amusement as Daniel's face morphed from annoyed to confused to angry to fearful. Clockwork was speaking again before Daniel could regain himself enough to form a coherent sentence.

"I have discussed this with you Danny. Use your head, so I will be spared repeating myself. Why did I require that you inform Vladimir of your fears? You're views of the world had already matured before you were made aware of the changes. Did the world end because of it? Was anyone truly the worse off?" Daniel flopped back down to the sofa, gaping like a fish. A clearly confused and somewhat anxious look plastered on his face. Clockwork waited patiently for Daniel to calm. When he did not and only continued to wrestle with the concepts in his head Clockwork spoke once more.

"You need to learn to be selfish without letting go of compassion completely. You need to learn to think of yourself, before thinking of others. You need to learn control and moderation over the urges to do things that, according to your staunchest view of the world, are unacceptable, instead of repressing these impulses completely. Danny you cannot continue with the mindset that the lines between good and evil are so clear. You cannot continue to make yourself the epitome of righteousness. You will never be able to uphold these views in the long term. Eventually the rest of the world's unwillingness to return to you your own affections and virtues will make you bitter and angry; turning you into what you had sought to avoid in the beginning. You need to learn to be self-serving. It is not your responsibility to be all that is good and right with the world. You need to learn to be human, to be evil, to sin. And you are going to learn how to do all of this in a manner that will not consume you, from Vladimir. You would do well to listen to what he has to say; for here sits a man who has seen both sides of the world and knows how to keep the balance. I am giving you a guide, to help you stay on the right side of life, and he sits across from you." Clockwork never turned to look at me during his monologue. He spoke to Daniel while he sat hypnotized. When Clockwork was finished Daniel blinked before he looked to me curiously. I could do no more than raise an eyebrow. What was I supposed to say? I had been appointed to a role, by the Ghost of Time, that I had already appointed myself to years ago. This was all information I already knew. I knew Daniel's hero antics would ultimately be his downfall. I knew Daniel was too trusting for his own good. I knew that I was the only person who had a shred of a chance of saving Daniel from his ridiculous views of the world before they destroyed him. It was however, interesting to watch Daniel seriously wrestle with the concepts I had been attempting to pound into his head for over two years now. Suddenly Daniel came to himself enough to speak.

"How?" He looked between Clockwork and myself, completely lost. I was severely confused with the question but Clockwork seemed to be able to follow the thought process just fine. Clockwork's eyes seemed to soften before he addressed Daniel once more.

"You were doing a fine job before you paid me a visit. Continue as if you had never been to see me, and I believe things will turn out as they should. Do not make the change a conscious effort. I am not telling you to change who you are. I am telling you not to be stubborn and regress to what you knew before because of fear. What have I told you about fear Danny?" I watched as Daniel responded without thinking, as if he had been made to repeat the answer many times before.

"Fear is an intelligent emotion with an agenda. It is wise to keep its council but not to let it dictate your every action, for it will not hesitate to take advantage of you." Clockwork smiled and nodded.

"Listen to fear Danny, but do not let it control you." Almost as soon as Clockwork had stopped speaking my attention was drawn to a large bell near the ceiling of the tower as it tolled three times. Daniel reacted instantly to its signal standing and moving towards the wall of screens, like he had been trained to do so. He looked to Clockwork with a tired smile, a witty comment on his lips.

"What are you getting sick of me already?" Clockwork lightly chuckled and gestured for me to follow. I reluctantly got up, as reluctantly as I would take orders from anyone. Clockwork smirked as he explained the purpose of the bell, knowing my confusion.

"I created the bell so that Daniel would know when his time with me was up and it was time for him to go. He prefers it to my verbal dismissals, which tend to be rather laced with word games and double meanings." Clockwork and I caught up with Daniel who was standing by the largest screen. Clockwork replied to Daniel's earlier comment.

"No, Danny I am not sick of you, you know that I always welcome your company. However I have given you much to think about and I rather think that both you and Vladimir have had enough excitement for one day. Besides, you still have that chemistry worksheet to do and you are going to have particular trouble with number four. Skip it and come back to it and it won't give you near as much trouble." Daniel nodded, committing the advice to memory while I raised an eyebrow at the exchange. Clockwork looked slyly to me.

"Vladimir on the other hand, will find that his work load has lessened considerably for the coming days. I suggest that you provide Helena with some additional reassurance upon your return to work tomorrow morning unless you desire to deal with a mother hen for the remainder of the week. You gave her quite the scare upon your abrupt departure." I gave Clockwork an incredulous look. He waved absently at the largest screen along the wall of them we had approached. He turned to me while standing in front of the portal, which currently displayed my vacant study. I narrowed my eyes upon seeing the inside of my house displayed. Had he bugged my house? How exactly had he done it without alerting me? Clockwork merely smirked in a way that I was coming to understand meant I was missing some vital information. I paid attention when he started to speak.

"Vladimir, I refer to these screens as my viewing portals. They allow me to observe anywhere, any when, along with giving me access to said setting. You will be stepping through to your study in a moment. This is also how I was able to bring you here in to begin with." I considered the portals for a moment before I nodded. It wasn't as if I could do anything about it, but I was still uneasy about the fact that Clockwork could observe me whenever he chose. Though I suppose if he had been able to up until this point and nothing had happened then I might be able to get used to the fact.

"Very well. Thank you, Clockwork, for everything. Is there a way for me to contact you once more? I believe that you insinuated I would be receiving this information earlier?" I was intent on getting that information. I could of course ask Daniel, but why when the ghost himself had promised the information?

"Of course. You couldn't simply barrow the infi-map and find me could you? My lair is much to protected for such a thing." Clockwork smiled a conniving smile at me that made my neck redden slightly as I shot a quick glance to Daniel. Daniel had discovered enough for one day. I sincerely hoped that Clockwork wasn't going to be revealing anything else. It seemed as if the ghost decided to have mercy and merely continued to speak. "In order to contact me, find a completely isolated section of the Ghost Zone and ask politely for admittance. I will hear you and create a portal for you to step through. If no portal appears it is not that I cannot hear you or do not know of your request. It is simply that I cannot let you in for whatever reason. Be it an impromptu visit from the Observants, or I know it is better that you do not receive my council in the first place. There is no need to shout or repeat yourself, if I am going to make a portal I will make one upon your first request." Clockwork then floated aside, allowing us access to the viewing portal. Daniel stepped forward first, having grown inpatient from waiting for Clockwork and I to finish comversation.

"Thanks for everything Clockwork. I'll see you again some other time. Hopefully when I'm not on the verge of a mental breakdown." I was puzzled when Daniel didn't wait for Clockwork to respond but merely smiled and stepped through. Clockwork spoke in response to my thoughts.

"He has learned that I am always watching him, so any 'goodbye' is not truly so, and that I detest pleasantries; especially when I already know exactly how the conversation is likely to play out. It is a farce that makes itself a nuisance to me on a too frequent basis. Thus are the woes of being omnipotent." I mentally stuttered for a moment while I struggled with what to do next. Clockwork had just expressed his dislike of goodbyes and his tendency to make them less than cordial, should I simply step through the portal without a parting word? But that seemed so callous; so disrespectful and barbaric. Clockwork solved my dilemma for me when he spoke once more a humorous glint in his eye.

"Daniel has also learned that I find particular humor in making him flounder in harmless uncertainty. You shall see me again Vladimir." I glared good naturedly at being made the butt of Clockwork's entertainment. I did not feel so averse to unintentionally patronizing the ghost with a parting word for the fact. I would realize later that that had been Clockwork's aim with his comment in the first place.

"I suppose if you say it's so then it must be true. Until we meet again then." I offered my hand for a handshake out of habit, feeling quite like I was closing a deal with a major business partner despite the setting. The Time Ghost obliged my businesslike tendencies. He shook my hand with a firm but not overbearing grip. With a curt nod our hands parted and I stepped into my study, ready to turn in much earlier than was usual.


	47. Chapter 47: Actions Speak Louder than Wo

AN:/ Hi, it's a shortie, but I love it anyway. I'm still working on the next chapter. I was going to put it directly after Chapter 46 but in continuity it just didn't fit. I needed something like this to bridge the gap between the end of last chapter and the begining of the next chapter. I tried something a little different with this chapter in that there is no inner monologuing at all. I don't describe anyone's feelings or reasoning. You don't get to look into anyone's head. It's all purely action. Not like fighting kung-fu action, but you get my drift. Tell me what you think. I am personally happy with it. I think I did a pretty good job. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out. I have a 20 page dissertation to write on the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 so... yeah. Enjoy!

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 47: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Saturday, March 31, 2012, 6:44PM_

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**IMPORTANT:** People have drawn things for this story. I repeat, some of you have seen fit to make art in relation to this story. I officially have FAN ART! (starts to hyperventilate and squeal before turning purple and fainting due to lack of oxygen.) As if my ego needed any more inflating. This is a huge milestone for me and I feel very honored. Seriously. So all of you should go check it out because it's awesome and I love it, and them, to death. Both Cupcake-reaper and Kaimiiru will forever have a special place in my heart, along with anyone else who draws anything for this. You can always go to my deviantArt page and I will have everything RTTEA related favorited and in a seperate file, (my screename is the same, my avatar is a hedgehog.) or you can follow either of these links directly to their pages to check it out. (without spaces, obviously.)

http:/ kaimiiru. deviantart. com/#/ d4ukwfw

http:/ cupcake-reaper. deviantart. com/gallery/ 36007560

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**Third Person POV.**

Vlad was very nearly asleep at the table. Not that you could tell. He held himself like he was awake and the morning paper blocked his face. He had had a lot to think about last night and had been largely unable to sleep at all, let alone peacefully. Vlad's eyes watered as he refused to open his mouth and let out a yawn. He blinked a few times before picking up a napkin to dab the water away. As Vlad was about to pick up the paper again the door opened. Vlad smiled fully at the teen who had come through the door.

"Good morning, Son." If you had been paying very close attention you would have seen the slight hesitation in Danny's steps. The way his foot paused for just a fraction of a second before it moved to continue propelling him forward. There was an ever so slight widening of his eyes before he had schooled his face back to what it was before.

"Morning-" The pitch of Danny's voice cut off. The inflection of Danny's voice would have lead you to believe he would have continued on to say something. So Vlad waited for the end of the sentence that would never come. Danny looked away and was forcing his ice powers to cool his face so that he would not blush. He sat down and picked up his fork as Tiffany came through the door to the kitchen with a plate of waffles.

* * *

"You're doing well Daniel. I'm surprised you remembered as much as you did with everything that happened yesterday." Vlad and Danny were standing in Vlad's bathroom, straight razor in hand. Vlad had started by putting his hand over Danny's and shaving one side of his face and letting Danny do the other side on his own. With as fast as Danny's facial hair was growing he would need an incredibly close shave every day to avoid suspicion.

"Of course I didn't forg~et. I was paying at~tention! It's hard not to pay attention af~ter someone yells at you with a Russian acce~nt about bears and murder…" Vlad shook his head and took the razor from Danny's hand before he went to get the few places Danny had missed or needed cleaning up. Vlad's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Bears, murder, and thieves Daniel. It's important to remember that they were provoked. It might just be their only redeeming quality." There was silence, as Danny couldn't respond due to the fact that Vlad was still working on his face. Once Vlad put the blade down and rinsed it off Danny replied.

"Well you never wro~te the speech down for me memorize, so how was I supposed to know? I can only reme~mber so much after I've only heard the thing once. I'm going to need a reference if I have any hope of mem~orizing it right. And I'll definitely need to practice the ac~cent." Danny had turned on the other sink and was rinsing out the dish that they had made their lather in. Vlad shook his head again and took the dish that Danny had toweled off to put back in the drawer.

"Very well. I shall write it down for you and force you to memorize it so that you can completely terrify your own spawn one day. Is that what you wanted?"

"Yup. Thanks!" Vlad adopted a confused expression on his face and turned to face Danny only to watch the last of his hair phase through the floor. Vlad stared at the spot for a moment before he moved to put the toothpaste Daniel used for his fangs in the drawer as well.

* * *

"Alright your five minutes are up. What am I going to need to balance this equation? Dan, can you give us the answer please?" Mr. Corfixen pointed to Danny who was sitting towards the middle of the room. The Chemistry class was in lecture today so they were in a classroom instead of the lab. Danny spoke up loudly and confidently.

"Two hy~drogen on the ri~ght." Immediately the class broke out into furious fits and giggles. Mr. Corfixen was smiling himself. But when the giggling didn't die down and instead started to pick up Mr. Corfixen decided enough was enough.

"Alright come on now, it happens. I'm sure a few more of you will be doing the same thing before the year is out. Now who can tell me…" Danny tuned out and sunk into his chair. He could not stop himself from blushing.

His voice cracked five times in his next class and he had only spoken two sentences.

Danny didn't speak again until he got home.

* * *

"Good afternoon Daniel how was school?" Vlad had just gotten home from work and as usual had come up to see how far Danny was on his homework. Danny didn't look up from the homework he was hovering over at his desk. He just shrugged. Vlad frowned and started to walk towards Danny at the desk.

"Daniel, is something wrong?" Danny still didn't look up from his work; instead he just shook his head. Vlad's eyebrows furrowed together and he put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Daniel, look at me." Danny did so reluctantly. Vlad's eyes narrowed when he spotted that Danny's throat was red from where he had obviously been rubbing it intensely all day. Vlad looked into Danny's eyes with concern.

"Does your throat hurt?" without taking his eyes from Vlad, Danny shook his head 'no'. Almost absently Danny's hand came up and was about to start kneading his adams-apple again. Vlad caught Danny's hand and put it back in his lap. Vlad simply studied Danny for a moment before he spoke.

"Say something." Now Danny did look away as he viciously shook his head. Vlad raised and eyebrow.

"Are you unable?" Danny hesitated for a moment. Vlad could see the debate to lie going on behind Danny's eyes and was satisfied when Danny decided to tell the truth as he shook his head slowly 'no'. Vlad sighed and gently prodded Danny's chin to look at him again.

"Then why do you refuse to speak?" Danny looked up to Vlad pleading with puppy dog eyes. Willing Vlad to understand. Vlad only frowned.

"For all the abilities I posses Daniel, telepathy is not one of them. Please answer the question." Danny only looked away and picked at the armrest of his office chair. Vlad put his hand over Danny's to stop him from slowly destroying his furniture, and with his other hand grabbed Danny's chin to meet his eyes once more.

"Daniel. I do not find your sudden muteness at all endearing. I will not ask you again. Why do you refuse to speak?" Danny was forced to look into Vlad's eyes and found it extremely difficult to look away. Danny could feel the heat starting to flare in his cheeks. When Danny did speak it was only barely audible.

"Too many cra~cks." Danny winced and flushed a brilliant red in shame, for as quietly as he had spoken he had still managed to make his voice crack. Vlad sighed and released his hold on Danny's chin.

"Daniel, you cannot stop speaking simply because your voice starts cracking. It's impractical and juvenile." Danny simply crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'watch me'. Vlad shook his head.

"Daniel I will not allow this to continue. You are being ridiculous. Every boy goes through this. You are not special in this regard, so I would refrain from acting like it." Danny glared at Vlad trying to speak with his eyes once more. Vlad only sighed in exasperation.

"Very well Daniel. Tell me what is so awful about your voice cracking that makes it worse than everyone else's experience then we'll see if I'll let this slide." Danny glared and seemed to consider for a moment.

"My voice won't sto~p! I can't go two sen~teces without my voice cracking. It makes me sound rid~iculous! Nobody else's voice is that bad!" Vlad's eyebrows furrowed in concentration before he shifted his weight to one hip and crossed his arms, staring off into he corner of the room. He nodded as if he agreed with Danny and his hand came up to stroke his goatee before understanding dawned on his face.

"Of course. I should have suspected. It's the growth hormones Daniel. They've sped up every other aspect of your growth, and your voice box is not exempt. I imagine that once your voice stops cracking in a few days we'll be able to take you off the meds. You've more than likely caught up to where you need to be. We wouldn't want to age you beyond your years. I imagine you will grow normally after that point anyway, if your situation was anything like mine." Danny seemed to light up. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something before he thought better of it and closed his mouth. Vlad rolled his eyes.

"And though it will likely last no more than a few days, I expect you to continue to use your voice regardless. At least while you're at home. No one will jest with you here and you need to practice using your voice. If you will not participate in conversation with me I can always make you do something else; sing nursery rhymes perhaps?" Danny's eyes widened.

"No, tha~t's okay! What do you wa~nt to talk about?" Vlad smirked.

* * *

"Hey Vla~d I've been meaning to as~k you, can Jazz come over for Than~ksgiving break? She get's off this Friday and I think it would be c~ool if she could come. I don't think she really wa~nts to go to Amity." Vlad took a sip from the tea he had had brought up to his study as he and Danny sat before the fire. Danny had previously been prattling on about some adventure or another he and Jazz had gotten into when they were younger. Something about a bath-mat being shoved in a toilet.

"I suppose that would be acceptable. Will arrangements need to be made?" Danny shook his head and a giant smile played over his face.

"No she c~an get here herself. Thanks Vl~ad. It will be nice to have my sis~ter around for a while. She is the only family I've g~ot left and I'm glad she'll be here for Than~ksgiving. We always have h~ave Thanksgiving together. There was this one t~ime when I was eight that the tur~key came alive and started ea~ting Jazz's hair! Then…" Vlad drifted off slightly as Danny continued to go on. Danny tended to speak whatever was on his mind when they talked like this. And as long as Danny kept talking Vlad didn't mind. Though if you looked close you could see Vlad's flinch when Danny had referred to Jazz as his 'only family'.

* * *

"People are comple~te idiots! I mean oh my god could you be any more stupid? I mean, 'Hey let's go buy some drugs and get totally stoned and then go to class without changing our clothes or making any effort not to appear completely drugged out of our minds'. I mean come on what did they thing was going to happen? I could smell it all the way across the room, as if the fact that they would not stop smiling when we were talking about how George practically euthanizes Lennie wasn't enough of a give away. I mean good god. If you're going to do it, fine I don't care, but be smart about it for crying out-"

"Daniel." Vlad perked up when he figured out what sounded off about Danny's voice. Danny just looked at Vlad confused.

"What?" Vlad smiled.

"You're voice Daniel it's stopped cracking." Danny's eyebrows shot up.

"It did? It did, didn't it! I can talk like I am right now and my voice won't crack. It still hasn't cracked! Yes this is awesome! I thought it was never going to stop!" Danny did a fist pump while Vlad chuckled and set his nightly tea down on the coffee table.

"Well it was inevitable, after all." Danny suddenly stopped from where he had been about to do a victory dance. All of the color drained from his face. His breathing started to get shallow as he mumbled under his breath, frantically looking around the room. Vlad's face fell. He stood up and started to slowly go towards Danny.

"Daniel are you okay? What's wrong?" Danny's eyes snapped to Vlad, pleading with him to say that everything was going to be okay.

"W-we shouldn't be celebrating. Oh my god I sound _exactly_ like him now! I can't stop it! He was right, he said so. He said it was inevitable and he was right. Oh god oh god oh-umph!" Vlad quickly grabbed Danny and pulled him in towards his chest.

"Daniel stop that this instant!" Danny quickly shut up. It wasn't like he could do much else with his face being pressed against Vlad's chest. Vlad pulled Danny away and held him by his shoulders. He bent down slightly to look directly into Danny's eyes.

"Daniel you are not turning evil. Do you hear me? I still have my ghost half; you still have your ghost half. The world is absolutely no danger of annihilation. You are simply getting older. I _will _get this through your thick head. I refuse to let you operate under this delusion any longer, its simply absurd. Clockwork has told you about this Daniel. You can't keep working yourself up into a panic about this. Tell me Daniel. Say, 'I am not evil'." Vlad's grip was heavy and secure on Danny's shoulders, keeping him firmly down to earth. Danny's breathing started to slow as he looked at Vlad's eyes.

"I-I am not…evil." Vlad kept holding Danny's eyes with his own. His hands still on Danny's shoulders.

"I don't believe you Daniel. I don't think you've quite saved the world yet. Say it again and _mean it_ this time." Danny waited a moment and determination started to flicker in his eyes.

"I am not evil."

"Again."

"I am not evil."

"Louder!"

"I am not evil!"

"SCREAM IT!"

"I AM NOT EVIL!" Vlad's grip had tightened and Danny's face had gotten red with exertion. A smile broke out over Vlad's face and his hands dropped from Danny's shoulders as he stood up completely once more. Danny's eyes softened and an expression that could only be called innocence was on his face. Vlad spoke again in a soft, low tone.

"I never said you were Daniel." Vlad quickly found himself with his arms full of teenager. Danny lunged forward and grabbed onto Vlad for all he was worth. Vlad brought his own arms up and hugged Danny back. Danny's muffled, and significantly deeper than normal voice sounded from Vlad's chest.

"'M not evil." Vlad ran his fingers through Danny's hair, noting that it was now covering his neck and brushing the top of his back.

"No little badger, no you're not."

* * *

"Okay now before we turn these papers in is there anyone who would like to share theirs?" Mrs. Klienheksel looked around the class and was surprised to see Dan had his hand up to read his ghost story. Mr. Masters had called a few days ago and excused his son from answering questions if he didn't want to. Dan had come down with some sort of awful rash in his throat. It wasn't contagious, but it did make it painful to talk. Apparently the rash had passed if Dan was willing to read his entire paper.

"Alright Dan, come on up to the podium then." Dan gave Mrs. Klienheksel a curt nod before he got out of his seat and strode to the podium with purpose and poise. Anyone with half a brain could tell that Dan was planning something. He hadn't talked in days, so what was so different now? Dan got behind the podium and set his paper down. He looked over the class a vindictive smirk spread over his face. He cleared his throat before he spoke clearly and slowly

"If You Were Smart, You'd Be Afraid of the Dark." Danny's smirk grew to epic proportions as he watched the reactions of the class. Most of them did a double take or looked to their friends for confirmation. A few had tried and failed to repress shivers or goose bumps. Danny only continued to smile a toothy smile as he read on, oh so slowly and lowly.

"By Daniel James _Masters._"

* * *

Danny stretched as he let out an enormous yawn. Not bothering to cover his mouth, and subsequent fangs, or quite himself. They had just finished a round of shield practice in the Training Room. Basically Danny wasn't allowed to use offense and had to block Vlad for as long as he could. Currently that was about thirty seconds. Vlad raised an eyebrow while Danny only smirked at Vlad's obvious displeasure with his display.

"Well, I suppose since you have oh so eloquently expressed your desire for rest we should be calling it at day." Danny nodded and blinked before he cracked his back and slumped through the floor after Vlad. They made it outside of the gym invisible and intangible. Vlad looked to the sleepy teen and couldn't help but smile as Danny rubbed his eyes like a small child.

"Goodnight, Son." If you had been paying attention you might have seen how Danny's fists paused ever so slightly in their scrubbing. If you cared to look into it, you might have wondered why Danny's mouth tensed from its previously lax state.

"Goodnight-" The pitch of Danny's voice cut off. The inflection of Danny's voice would have lead you to believe he would have continued on to say something. So Vlad waited for the end of the sentence that would never come. Danny fidgeted for a brief moment before he shot himself through the ceiling and towards his room to go to sleep.


	48. Chapter 48: On the Road Again

AN:/ Wow that was fast wasn't it? I actually sat on this a little bit before I posted it I got it done so fast. To tell the truth this was pretty much halfway done when i posted chapter 47. And it's not even like it's short or anything. I dunno it feels weird to get it up so fast. Though I guess I am a little unsure as to how you guys will like this chapter. It is definitely a different dynamic than we've seen before. Just roll with it I guess, and please let me know what you think at the end. I am really not very confidant about this chapter, but I was happy enough with it post, so yeah. Happy reading.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 48: On the Road Again

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 8:32 PM_

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**Danny's POV**

I rapped my fingers against the table. I was trying to do some of my math homework. I wasn't very successful, and I hadn't been successful for a little over a week now. It didn't help that Jazz wouldn't be helping me through it today. She was coming over for Thanksgiving break. She should be driving on her way here right now. So she wouldn't be able to talk me through some of this stuff. Neither my homework or what was keeping me from doing my homework in the first place, I didn't really care which. Maybe she could help me, that's what I was banking on anyway. I had been hesitant to share my problems about Vlad with her because I still wasn't sure what Jazz would think of me when she heard what was going on in my head. But she was coming over now. She would see me and Vlad's awkwardness in action, so she would likely figure out what was going on whether I told her or not. She was good with all of this psychoanalysis stuff. At least she would be able to explain why I was feeling so confused. I really hated it. I hated it because it was making me feel really guilty even though I had never asked for any of these weird feelings. I had never asked for Vlad to say that he loved me like the son he never had. But Vlad did, he did say that he loved me, even that he would die for me. So now I was stuck, and Vlad was still waiting.

Every morning since Clockwork's I'd come down to breakfast and say what I did every morning "'Morning" Only now instead of Vlad perking up and giving me a million watt smile he would give me this awful concerned smile you give people when you know something is wrong but your trying to cover it up. Because he was waiting. He was waiting for me to say something to indicate that I thought of him like my father like he thought of me like his son and I could not bring myself to do it. Vlad had noticed that I still didn't call him Dad, that I had never said that I loved him back. I hated it. I hated that look on Vlad's face like he didn't understand what I was doing or why I was still calling him 'Vlad'. I didn't even call him 'Vlad' anymore I just avoided referring specifically to him all together. I hated the fact that I couldn't force myself to see Vlad as a father like he wanted me to.

What was the big deal anyway? Why was I having so much trouble with this? It wasn't like it was difficult. Vlad had done everything right. He'd helped me with school and ghost powers and social stuff. He'd taught me how to carry myself, and tie a tie, and shave my face. He'd explained that my voice cracked so often because I was taking growth hormones so my voice box was growing faster. He'd been there when my voice stopped cracking after a few days and settled into a low baritone that creeped me out. He'd forced me to talk constantly so I couldn't shy away from my voice and so that I would get used to it. He constantly reminded me that I was never going to turn evil and destroy the world, because Vlad was not stupid and would not rip out my ghost half. Vlad made sure I was happy and healthy. He'd even made all the right mistakes with violating my privacy, like every other normal parent! Vlad did all of the things a Dad was supposed to do, so why did I have such a problem with letting him know about it?

I wanted to think of Vlad as my father. I really did. It only made sense. It made perfect logical sense. I mean, my old one didn't want me anymore so what the hell was stopping me from getting a new one? I could already admit that Vlad was as close to being my parent as he could be without actually being one. Hell, I was more biologically similar to Vlad than I was to either of my parents, being half ghost. So why was it so hard to make the jump? He was practically already my father anyway, so why couldn't I bring myself to call him that? I knew I would jump in front of a bullet for Vlad, I knew I would defend his honor and follow in his footsteps. It wasn't like 'Dad' sounded that different from 'Vlad' in the first place!

I groaned and let my head fall to the table with a thud. I was so stupid. How could Vlad want someone like me as a son in the first place? I could not get the thought of Vlad's disappointed face out of my head and I wanted to scream in frustration. I was trying! I was trying so hard but I wasn't going to say something I didn't mean. I just couldn't do it. All I knew was that I was having serious trouble forcing myself to call Vlad anything other than his first name or acknowledging the fact that he was probably permenately taking care of me. Vlad just wasn't my 'Dad' yet. He was damn close, but he wasn't all the way there. I mean it wasn't like I didn't care about Vlad. I did, I cared a lot, and it was killing me going around the mansion with Vlad's longing confused look following me around everywhere. But I just couldn't, I wouldn't say something this important to Vlad without meaning it. Not yet. I needed more time. I needed some sort of… I don't know what I needed. Jazz would know what to do, she could help me. I was so relived she was coming over because I don't think I could stand another day of walking around with my brain this conflicted.

There was a sudden jingling sound coming form my computer, which had been open displaying my math problems. My head shot up to look at the screen. Jazz was on the road wasn't she? Why would she be calling me during lunch? I scrolled over and clicked the little speech bubble. It took a moment but the feed from Jazz's end came through.

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** Jazz POV.**

"C'mon, c'mon" I turned the key in the ignition for the billionth time. Just incase by some miracle it decided to work this time.

_Reeeeeetch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch_

"AUGH!" I let go and slapped the steering wheel.

"BEEP"

"Ahh!" I recoiled at having accidently hit the horn. I sighed and let out a whimper of distress like a pouting three year old. I could do things like that when nobody was around to see. My heart slowed back down and got back into my chest as the surprise wore off. Why, oh why, did my rust bucket have to crap out on me now? I had been going down the highway, out in the country again, in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Seriously I hadn't' seen any exits for _miles_. When all of the sudden there was this creeeeeeee-CLANG DING da-Ding da-ding da-ding. The engine had promptly stopped working and I had been left to guide my beloved tin can onto the shoulder before I braked, thank god at least those still worked. I was stuck, in the middle of nowhere.

I got out of my car-turned roadside decoration and lifted up the hood. A ton of smoke came poring out that smelled like burnt rubber. I had absolutely no clue what was wrong with it besides the fact that it smelled like radioactive goat cheese. And yes I have smelled radioactive goat cheese before so it was an apt comparison. I pulled my purple fleece jacket around myself and went to sit in the driver's seat again with my feet on the pavement. Well, at least it was sunny; there was not a single cloud in the sky. It was still a little chilly though. I took out my cellphone and checked again. It was 10:30 am.

Still no service.

I was seriously considering just screaming and running around in circles, but I didn't because I didn't want to make that much of a spectacle of myself, even if I was alone. I tried to force tears to my eyes. Maybe if I could cry I would feel better. I certainly felt like I could cry. The tears were just not coming though, so I just tried to force the lump in my chest to go away. I was only halfway successful.

What the heck was I going to do? There was nobody around. I couldn't get a hold of anyone on my cellphone, and I had no clue how far civilization was from here. Was I supposed to just sit here and wait for help? I was on a paved road, so somebody had to come by sometime. But how long would I be waiting? Would I be here until nightfall when someone would take the road home from work? What was I going to do for that long? I needed food and water. I mean, I wouldn't die from one night without food but the prospect of going without made me groan. There had to be a better way. If only I could find service on my cell phone. I grabbed the little blue phone out of my pocket again and growled. A plan forming in my head as my phone made it back to my pocket.

I got out of the car again and closed the hood, which I had left open. I sat down on top of it and scotched all the way up so that my feet were on the hood before I turned myself over so I was on my hands and knees. From there I crawled to the windshield. I leaned over the windshield and got my hands positioned on the roof of the car before I swung one leg up. My shoe caught in one of the ridges of the roof. Combine with the friction of the rubber soles it stayed put and allowed me to pull myself completely onto the roof. So I lay there on my stomach for a minute to rest before I resituated and moved to the center of the car to sit up on my knees. Carefully, bracing myself I stood up. First one foot, then the other. And then I was standing, petrified that I would fall and hurt myself, on top of my car. Before I could lose my nerve and get back on my hands and knees I pulled my phone out of my jacket and held it up as high as I could, holding It there for a few seconds.

Nope.

When I was sure I wasn't getting any service this way I got off the top of the roof as quickly as I could. I was _terrified_ of falling off. I can do heights, they don't bother me, but you better bet I'm holding onto something secure, or strapped in or whatever before I get up somewhere. I hated standing on top of tall things without anything to prevent me from just taking a dip off the side.

I plopped down into the drivers seat again, making the car bounce a little. I was just going to have to sit here and wait. I wonder what Danny was going to do when I didn't get there on time. He'd probably freak out and call me. Hopefully by then I'd be somewhere where I got cellphone service.

That's when I saw a tractor pull onto the road in my rear-view mirror.

* * *

His name was Mr. Brown, but "you can call me Jeff." When he saw a look of doubt cross my face he said that "Yes he could Moo. In fact he could make all of the animal noises though he was better at a pig sound than anything else, and if you wanted a good cow sound you would have to ask his son, Cody." I had blushed which caused him to laugh and swing down from his tractor. He asked my name and I told him it was Jazz. He said he had seen me waving my cellphone around while he was tending the irrigation lines and came to investigate.

Mr. Brown was the tallest lankiest man I had ever seen. He must have been almost seven feet tall and his limbs were like ropes that hung out from his shirt. His hair was sparse where he did have it, and he was completely bald on top. He popped open the hood of my car and promptly declared that I would not be getting anywhere in this car ever again, unless I wanted to replace the engine, but he said that the car likely wasn't worth it. I asked him what was wrong and he started going on in a bunch of car language I didn't understand so I just told him I believed him.

He laughed again and offered to tow my car to his barn where he had a phone I could use. I promptly agreed. He smiled before he climbed back up to the cab of his tractor and got out a coil of cables. He maneuvered around so that he was in front of my car and jury-rigged a tow cable. He yelled at me to climb up into the cab with him He had scooted over a little bit and I was given enough room to sit on the armrest. The engine was really loud and didn't really facilitate conversation so I mostly just watched as Mr. Brown operated the tractor. I'd never been in one before and there were a lot more buttons and lights than I thought.

In a few minutes me, Mr. Brown, and my car all made it to a white two-story house that looked like it needed a bath. We pulled into their driveway and a beagle came running out of the house, barking madly. Mr. Brown jumped down from the cab while I used the stairs.

"Bingo, shut up!" The dog stopped barking for a moment before it started to bark again only quitter, as if it were attempting to bark under its breath. Mr. Brown warned the dog again in a flat low tone.

"Bingo." The dog stopped its tail momentarily before it started back up and its tongue was lolling out of its mouth. As I touched my feet the ground the dog came up to my ankles and started poking me in the leg with its nose. I reached down and let the dog sniff my hand. It was immediately assaulted with kisses. I looked imploringly up at Mr. Brown.

"You named your dog Bingo?" Mr. Brown only smirked and crouched down to ruffle the fur on his dog's back.

"What else was I supposed to name him?" I didn't know what to say so I just shrugged my shoulders. He smiled and started to walk towards his front door. "Come on in, and we'll get you rescued." When Mr. Brown started to walk away Bingo immediately was at his heals. I followed behind them and came through a screen door.

"Back already Jeff? I have a hard time believing that those lines didn't have any cracks to patch up." A woman came around the corner wearing a large t-shirt with several holes in it for some sort of Cheese Company and some jeans. Her hair looked like steel and was up in a sloppy ponytail that was sprinkled liberally with white strands. She had a rag in her hand and stopped upon seeing me. She blushed.

"Oh, hello. I apologize for my appearance I didn't know we'd be having company. Here, come, sit. I just pulled some blueberry muffins out of the oven. What brings you here? Are you thirsty, hungry? Do you need anything? Let me take your jacket." I found myself being ushered into a dinning area with a small wooden table and four mismatched chairs. Despite being worn the room and the kitchen attached were clean. I felt particularly awkward as I was fussed over when I didn't even know this woman's name. I mumbled a little as I responded.

"Oh I'm sorry for intruding. My car broke down and I was just hopping I could use your phone. Mine doesn't seem to be getting any service." I flustered a little at all of the attention. I shrugged my jacket off and before I could put it on the back of the chair I was offered, it was snatched away and put on the row of hooks by the front door. The woman, I'm assuming Mrs. Brown, shuffled around and shooed me into a chair.

"That's awful! And so far from any kind of help. I'm glad that Jeff found you if you couldn't use your cell phone. I'm assuming that's your car out in the driveway? Good lord I haven't seen that model since I was in high school, it was probably past its time anyway. It still is a hassle though; hopefully you'll get everything sorted out. Did I offer you a drink? We've got whole milk, two percent, chocolate milk, orange juice, Coke, Diet coke, Fanta, and of course there's the tap. Does anything sound good to you?" I smiled but shifted a little in my seat.

"Um I'm fine. I don't really need anything. I know I'm already sort of uninvited."

"Jazz you're going to have to take something, she isn't going to stop until you do." Mr. Brown came into the dinning room with a phonebook and a phone. He sat down in the chair next to mine. Bingo hopped right up on the chair next to Mr. Brown. He was just tall enough that his eyes peeked over the edge of the table.

"Jeff! I'm only being hospitable." Jeff snorted and smiled at his wife.

"Yes, my mistake, Kathy." Kathy harrumphed before she dismissed her husband and turned back to me.

"Don't mind him. He's just sore because I know he can take care of himself and he doesn't get the royal treatment anymore. Really if you want anything… I think I've got some lemonade mix in the back of the cupboard, or maybe its Kool-Aid I can't remember…" Kathy turned to the cabinet and started to shuffle things around. Mr. Brown merely raised an eyebrow at me as if to say 'see'? I quickly decided I'd take Mr. Browns advice, as it really didn't look like I would be able to get out of this any other way.

"Um, I'll just have a glass of water, really." Immediately Kathy leaned back to look around the cupboard door.  
"Are you sure? It's really no trouble if you wanted something more. I've got this new box of tea here if you'd like that, or whatever else?" She looked at me as if she didn't believe all I wanted was water. I looked at her and tried to plaster sincerity on my face.

"No, water is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"You don't want something to eat too?"

"No, just water is good."

"And you'll tell me if you want something else right? Because really its no trouble at all."

"I promise I'll tell you if I need anything."

"You just want water?"

"Yup, just water."

"You don't want me to put any mix in it because it's really no trouble?"

"Nope, plain water is fine."

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive."

Kathy sighed as if she had just discovered something extremely disappointing.

"Water it is then." Kathy shut the cabinet she had been digging in and opened up another. She pulled out a cup that must have been able to hold at least a liter. She wandered over to the tap and tested the water to make sure it was cold. And with a quick, "Ice?" and a shake of my head a huge glass of water was set on the table for me to drink at my leisure. After this Kathy shooed Bingo off of the chair he had been sitting on to sit down herself. Mr. Brown had been looking up mechanic numbers that would drive out to his house, his nose buried into the phone book, flipping through diligently. Kathy leaned down to scratch the head of Bingo as she started talking once more.

"Do you have any family that you could call? You are going to need a ride to wherever you're going, or at least someone to pick you up. The tow truck will give a ride to the mechanic but from there your going to need another car until they can fix it." I squirmed a little in my seat. I was not calling mom or dad. That would just bring up to many questions. I hadn't gotten a call from either of them about plans for Thanksgiving. I don't know whether they were just distracted but I really didn't want to call them and have them ask where I was and what I was doing. I still didn't have Danny's number, or Vlad's for that matter, plus I wouldn't want to interrupt anything. I looked at the clock on the stove and saw it was 11:45. Danny would be having lunch right now, maybe if I could get to my computer…

"Tell me what your thinking sweetie, I can hear the cogs turning from here." I debated for a moment making up a lie. I really shouldn't be spreading information around. But these people seemed nice, and trustworthy.

"Well. I could get a hold of my brother with my laptop, if I had Internet connection. He has lunch right about this time and we usually web chat now that I'm in college and I can't see him every day. I could get all the numbers I needed from him." Kathy sprung out of her chair with a grin on her face.

"Is that all? Well come over here then. Cody just installed this new 'modem' thing for us. I'm not sure how it works but we get plenty of Internet to go around! He said it has wireless. We never use it of course, but he set it up anyway." From there Kathy went to turn the computer on and I went out to the car to get my own computer. I opened up my laptop while she rummaged around for a tiny post-it note with the password on it. Eventually after many repetitions of the password, I got on the Internet and called Danny. Kathy went to "pester Jeff" so that I could have some privacy. I waited anxiously for what would happen. If Danny didn't answer I didn't really know what I was going to do. I could call a cab, or take the bus, but I wasn't exactly loaded with cash. And I still had to pay for the tow service. I wasn't even sure I had enough for that! My face went slack in relief when Danny picked up after two rings. Thank God, I really didn't want to have to figure something else out. At least Danny would be able to get a hold of _someone_ from where he was_. _He looked like he had had a rough night, or that he had been sleeping on his face recently. He instantly perked up though, when he saw me.

"_Jazz?" _The voice that came out of Danny's mouth made me jump before I settled down. It was so deep! I still didn't expect it to come out of his mouth, and I felt sort of guilty for being surprised. I had had to coax Danny into talking for several lunch periods or else he wouldn't talk at all, he was afraid of his own voice so much. I worried about him, that sort of thing wasn't healthy. Danny couldn't just stop talking because he didn't like his voice, so I was careful to only ask questions that he would have to answer verbally and force him to talk. Danny had caught on to my game quickly though, and groaned saying that Vlad and me must have been in on this together because Vlad had been doing the exact same thing. That had been a curious bit of information. It was weird to think that Vlad and me would ever have the same idea about something, but I wasn't complaining; as long as Danny was forced to talk and get used to his voice. Contrary to what Danny believed he didn't sound too much like 'Him'. Danny's voice was less drawl and not _quite_ as deep, and he inflected his voice differently. I came back to earth and realized Danny was blushing. I snorted at his embarrassment, defending my surprise.

"You have to admit, that is still really weird." Danny shrugged his shoulders as he mumbled some excuse or another under his breath. It was only a moment before he was back on track.

"_Where are you anyway? What are you doing? Why is there a picture of a chicken with its head cut off behind you?"_ I was about to open my mouth when I paused and raised an eyebrow. I looked back and sure enough, there was a painting, a comic if you wanted to get specific, of a chicken running around with its head cut off. I stared at that for a moment. Why on earth did these people have a picture like that? And why did they hang it up? Really the picture didn't bother me as much as it probably should. I did grow up with ghost hunters after all. But still-

"_Jazz."_ I turned back around to see an amused Danny. I stared at him for a minute before I remembered Danny's more relevant questions.

"Right. Well, my car decided that now would be a good time to break down. And I am currently in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't getting any cellphone service so I was ready to wait it out when this guy, Mr. Brown, came by in a tractor. He picked me up and towed my car to his house where I am currently. Thus I am now calling you, to let you know I will not be arriving when I thought." Danny's face became concerned and he sat up a little more.

"_Jazz are you okay? How bad is the car? How are you going to get here? Or anywhere? You shouldn't have trusted those people. Why did you go into their house? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You don't know who they are! You could have-"_

"Danny." I cut off Danny's rant before he could really get going. And Danny could _really _get going. "For one, I am _in the middle of nowhere._ Who else was I going to get help from? And if they haven't done anything by now, I doubt that they will in the future. Besides, the guy introduced himself by quoting Dr. Seuss and he named his dog _Bingo_. Danny, I'm fine." Danny was very visibly torn between raising his eyebrow in amusement or continuing his rant. Finally he seemed to settle on a sort of grudging acceptance of the situation.

"_Fine, where is this guy anyway? What is your plan so far?" _I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Mr. Brown is looking up a mechanic that will drive the way out here to tow my car. I really don't know what I'm going to do. I really don't have the money to pay for being towed, or any sort of repairs. Mr. Brown says that the car might as well be thrown out because the repairs needed are more than it would be worth and I'm inclined to agree with him. I was thinking I could take a taxi or something the rest of the way, but once again I run into the money issue…" I blushed a little. It wasn't often that I asked Danny for help at all, let alone this sort of thing. He ignored my nerves however and nodded.

"_Okay, hold on for a second. I'm gonna call Vlad. He'll figure this out." _Danny didn't pause to see my reaction instead fishing in his pocket for his phone. If he had he would have seen my curious reaction to Danny's suggestion. I knew how Vlad and Danny were getting along, obviously. I had been talking with Danny about it everyday at lunch. I knew they got along really well and that Vlad was being really cool, but it was still weird to watch Danny immediately go to Vlad for help. Danny hadn't even had to think about it, he just knew he needed help and went to Vlad for it. It was weird, but kind of refreshing to see Danny capable of relying on others for help. I almost half expected Danny to try and fly out here himself and carry me the rest of the way. I wouldn't have put it past him before, but it didn't even look like the thought crossed his mind. Danny just went to Vlad. Vlad had ultimately managed to make Danny trust him in a way our parents never had even come close to. Danny perked up; as it was obvious Vlad picked up on the other end.

"_Hey Vlad." …_

"_Vlad calm down would you! I am not in any life –threatening situation."…_

"_Or any other type of situation!"…_

"_Vlad would you let me tell you why I called?"…_

"_Vlad, Jazz's car broke down."…_

"_Who else was she going to call, the president?"..._

"_She needs someone to pick her up Vlad, seriously, this isn't that complicated. You don't need to hyper analyze the situation it's pretty self explanatory."…_

"_I don't know hold on a sec." _Danny pulled the phone away rom his face and looked back to me.

"_Hey Jazz do you know 'where' in the middle of nowhere, you are? Do you have an address?" _I blushed a little bit before I stood up out of the chair.

"I don't know hold on a sec." Danny nodded and went back to his phone while I walked towards the door. I peeked out of the room, still uncomfortable moving around in a house that I didn't know. Luckily the door to the office I had been ushered into was visible from the kitchen, where Kathy was busy making lunch. If I had been paying attention I might have realized that she was making more sandwiches than only two people could realistically eat. Either way she saw me poking my head out and dropped everything to make sure I was fine.

"Is there something you need sweetie?" I nodded sheepishly. A little weirded out that she kept calling me 'sweetie'. Never mind that she was probably barely old enough to be my grandma.

"Yeah, can I have your guys' address? I promise I won't steal your identity or anything!" Kathy only chuckled. She quickly found a pad of paper and jotted down something before she ripped off the sheet and handed it to me.

"There you are. If you need anything else don't be shy." I smiled.

"Thanks." I hurried back to the desk where I had sat my computer to see Danny making exasperated faces at his phone.

"_Vlad not everyone is an undercover assassin. Besides I already went over it with Jazz. I'm not a complete idiot you know. Wait hold on Jazz is back." _He looked up to me and I held the piece of paper up to the camera so that he could read it.

"_5664 Garfield rd. Burbank Wisconsin, 4914915 USA." …_

"_She did say she was in the middle of nowhere."…_

"_Vlad you don't have to-"…_

"_Fine gezze. You don't have to be all weird about it. I just thought you'd send someone else."…_

"_Oh. Ha. Ha. But seriously if you don't want to-"…_

"_Okay! I'm just making sure. It's not like I've ever seen you drive or anything."…_

"_You would buy all those cars just for show."…_

"_Whatever. When do you think you'll be there and back?"…_

"_Okay I'll tell Jazz. I'll see you later."…_

"_Bye."…_

Danny hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket and turned back to me.

"_Vlad says he'll be there in about an hour and a half. So don't go anywhere." _I blinked a few times. Wait a minute _Vlad _was coming to pick me up?

"So Vlad is coming himself? Like in person?" Danny shook his head with a smirk on his face.

"_Your guess is as good as mine. The excuse he gave me was that he couldn't trust any of his other drivers to get there and back in tact, besides Clinton. And he was not going to use Clinton to drive you because Clinton is supposed to drive me. He said it would be easier on everyone if he drove."_ I just scrunched my eyebrows together. What was Vlad planning? A sigh from the computer brought me back down to earth.

"_Jazz it's probably nothing, and if it is something, it's something relatively harmless, or at least something that won't put us in any danger. Vlad won't do anything to you because he knows that if he did, I would be gone faster than he could say 'fruitloop'. It'll be fine. Just go along with it, Vlad will show his cards eventually. He always does if you wait long enough." _I sighed and nodded. I had to trust Danny on this; he had more experience than I did. If he said not to worry then there really wasn't anything I could do about it. I looked back to Danny and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks for the help Danny." Danny smiled with real warmth in his face. It made him look more awake than he had the whole conversation.

"_You know I'm there for you Jazz, no matter what." _He went with his hand to rub the back of his neck. "_Listen we can talk when you get to the house alright? Lunch is almost over so I kind of have to go." _I smiled at Danny and nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you later Danny."

"_See ya Jazz." _With that Danny moved to click the window closed. The screen went black and I closed out of it too.

* * *

It had been roughly an hour, I wasn't exactly sure, and quite a lot had happened in that time. A total of two turkey sandwiches, a small mountain of Doritos, and a blueberry muffin had been forced on me. And in the name of being polite I took everything. The only problem was that the more I ate, the more Mrs. Brown thought I was hungry. It was a horrible, horrible perpetuating cycle that was impossible to break without hurting Mrs. Brown's feelings. The entire time Mr. Brown just laughed at me with his eyes and had an amused smirk on his face. Bingo had quickly figured out how to take advantage of my plight and I gratefully fed what I could sneak to him when Mrs. Brown wasn't looking.

I learned that the Brown's grew celery or corn, depending on the year. And that their son Cody was in his fourth year out of college and he had a girlfriend that they wished he would just propose to already, because really they were getting older and they wanted grandchildren to spoil before they went senile. I was shown a lot of embarrassing pictures of this infamous Cody and was told more than a few stories about the adventures he and Mr. Brown had gotten up to when Mrs. Brown wasn't around to stop them. Including that of an escaped cow named Goober who Cody had once tried to take for a ride.

I was saved from a second blueberry muffin when there were three loud knocks on the door. Mrs. Brown got up with a smile. Bingo immediately started barking and went to meet the newcomer. Mr. Brown got up to follow his wife, though at a more sedate pace. I followed behind both of them, stopping to get my coat and the grocery bags full of things I had collected from the inside of my car from the hooks by the door. My luggage that I had packed for my stay at Vlad's was in one of those giant roller suitcases. The door creaked open and both the Brown's stopped and stared at who was standing on their front porch. Vlad stood there in all his regal glory. An impeccable black suit and tie, one hand held behind his back while the other was poised to gesture when appropriate. Whoops, I guess I should have told them that it would be Vlad _Masters _who was coming. I had only mentioned that a family friend was coming to pick me up. I hadn't really thought that the arrival of the world's richest man on their doorstep would be anything special. I was used to Vlad, but the Brown's…

Bingo, however, had no reservations about Vlad's status or wealth, and continued to bark from the threshold of the door up at the new man that was invading his territory. Vlad looked down to the dog, locking his gaze with it and glared. Bingo whined briefly before he licked his chops, shifted his weight uncertainly and backed away. With the dog taken care of Vlad gave his attention back to the couple taking up the doorway. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were still staring in shock at Vlad. Vlad seemed to take a deep breath, almost a sigh in disguise, before he coughed lightly to get their attention.

"Vlad Masters; a pleasure. I am here to retrieve Jasmine. I assume you were not informed of my impending arrival?" The disdainful look Vlad was giving the Brown's choice of attire was not missed by me. Though it blew completely over their heads as they self-consciously started to straighten themselves out. Mrs. Brown was immediately talking a mile a minute as she hastily straitened her holey cheese t-shirt and re-did her pony tail.

"Mr. Masters, I'm so terribly sorry. Jazz only said that a close family friend was coming to get her and she is just the sweetest thing. I was cleaning before she showed up you see and I was enjoying her company so much that the state of my clothes seemed to slip my mind. Please come it and let me get something for you. I can put on a pot of coffee, or perhaps you prefer tea? I have a fresh batch of blueberry muffins that you might like-"

"That won't be necessary, I am here to simply retrieve Jasmine and provide you with the funds that the tow truck will require. Do you happen to know where the young lady is at this moment?" Vlad leaned forward slightly as if to peer in the doorway. I stepped forward and to the side so that I was visible. I gave him an imploring look, silently warning him to lay off the Brown's. They had been awesome to me and I was not going to let Vlad be his usual slime ball self to them.

"Hi _Vlad_. Thanks for picking me up." Vlad saw me step forward and caught my look. He smirked as he responded.

"Why Jasmine, its no trouble at all. These things do happen. Now, we must be on our way I'm afraid. We do have a moderate drive ahead of us to get back to the Mansion." Mr. Brown seemed to gape for a moment at the mention of a mansion, before he sprang to life. He moved to the side to let me pass as he spoke.

"Of course. Jazz was good company and we're all to glad to help. Are you sure there isn't anything we can do for you? Wouldn't you like to take a rest before you got back on the road?" I went past Vlad and down the steps so I wouldn't have to stand next to him on the porch. Danny may have had nothing but glowing things to say about the guy but he was still Vlad. However as soon as I was out of the house I was a little distracted by the sleek black Lamborghini that was parked just beside the tractor. Vlad promptly responded as he pulled out his wallet and casually counted out five or so bills in efficient precise movements.

"Oh, no. We are quite all right. Here I believe this should cover all of the expenses. You can keep the change as a token of appreciation for your hospitality. We'll just be off then. Ta." Vlad flashed the couple an award winning smile and before they could realize he had given them seven hundred dollars and object about the deliberate overestimation of costs, he was moving almost at a jog towards the drivers side door of the Lamborghini. He grabbed my suitcase from me as he walked past and was quickly opening and shutting the back door to throw it in the back seat.

"Come along Jasmine." Vlad was already opening up the driver's side door and had swung himself into the car as he snapped me out of my daze. I started walking towards the car and cautiously opened the door, only using the tips of my fingers to pull on the underside of the handle. I felt like I should take a bath first or at least wash my hands before I even thought about touching that car, let alone getting in! Carefully, I stepped into the car, keeping everything in my lap and touching as little of the car as possible. As soon as I had closed the door Vlad didn't wait for me to get my seatbelt on, having none of the reservations that I had. He turned on the car and was backing out of the driveway extremely quickly. We swung out into the road as I was thrown around in my seat. An objection to Vlad's behavior already on my lips.

"Vlad you can't…" We came to a stop as Vlad put the car in drive and I looked up to see Mrs. Brown running towards us waving the money Vlad have given her through the air. My voice was hesitant as I looked over to Vlad for and explaination. "Vlad why is Mrs. Brown waving the money you gave her around?" An enormous evil smirk was spread over his face and his eyes seemed to glint with knowing.

"No reason." Vlad suddenly hit the gas and the tires squealed before we shot off like a rocket. I could feel the skin of my face pulling and I let out a small scream, hanging onto my seat in a death grip, my things forgotten and on the floor.

"Vlad!" The engine growled as Vlad continued to accelerate. I was completely stiff in my seat my body completely tense. I watched the speedometer as it climbed, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100…

"Vlad, Slow Down!" I was having an internal war with myself, deciding whether it was smarter to let go of the seat to get my seatbelt on, or continue to hold on for dear life while I was shoved back into the seat. Vlad exhaled exasperatedly as if _I_ was being unreasonable. He sat relaxed in his chair, as if we were going merely 35 miles an hour.

"Come now Jasmine we're barely above 100, how do you expect us to get home in time if-"

"Slow this screaming metal death trap down or I am going to lose it!" Vlad sighed, but took his foot off the accelerator. Instantly the car started to slow and I started to gain some higher brain function beside, 'oh my god we're all going to die'. Without taking my eyes off of the road I felt around for the seatbelt and clumsily buckled myself in. The seatbelt did wonders for my nerves and I could now start to breathe again. My heart thudded loudly in my chest. I slumped in my seat and all of my muscles uncoiled when the needle on the speedometer leveled off at seventy. There was a smooth chuckle beside me and I quickly turned to glare as Vlad spoke.

"Forgive me Jasmine, Daniel never mentioned you had any aversions to high speeds. I supposed you'd be accustom to such things after growing up with Jack at the wheel." I growled and rearranged myself in my seat, siting up slightly. Stupid fruitloop, there was absolutely no reason to speed away like that other than to mess with me.

"Mom never let Dad drive when we were in the car until Danny was ten, and after that it was only if Mom was busy. After that point it was only four years until I could drive, and then it was my job to drive Danny around until he got his license." Vlad's smirk fell as I talked. He became sober and remained quite for a moment. I glanced down to my feet and saw a majority of my things had fallen out of their bags and were scattered around. I bent over to pick them all up and get re-organized. Mrs. Brown's actions before we made our get-away came back to me as I handled the bags she had given me for my stuff.

"Vlad, seriously, why was Mrs. Brown running towards us with the money you gave her? You didn't give her fake money did you?" My glare hardened. I honestly wouldn't have put it past Vlad to give them fake money. Never mind that Vlad could probably bathe in money if he wanted to. Vlad gave me a condescending look.

"Oh come now Jasmine, I'm not a complete monster. I gave them more than enough to pay for a towing service and compensation for your intrusion. I sincerely doubt her exasperation was over the _lack_ of funds." Vlad rolled his eyes, while I adapted a curious expression. Vlad almost sounded like he was telling the truth, and if you wanted to read into it, even like he had given them too _much_ money. I eyed Vlad suspiciously as I had that thought. No, it couldn't be. I mean this was Vlad we were talking about.

"Vlad how much money did you give them?" Vlad quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure, I wasn't particularly concerned with exact amounts. I believe it was six hundred or seven hundred." I stared at Vlad. He kept his eyes on the road like he hadn't said anything completely outrageous.

"Vlad seriously, how much did you give them?" Vlad seemed to become exasperated and he rearranged his grip so that his hands merely rested on the steering wheel and his elbows could rest on the door and the center console.

"I've already said I wasn't completely sure, Jasmine, do not make me repeat myself. If you must know, I am positive I gave them more than five hundred." I just continued to stare at Vlad. He was serious. There was none of the 'I'm lying and pulling off some sort of evil scheme' glint in his eye. He actually had given them at least five hundred dollars, in cash. He didn't even know for sure how many hundreds he had given them. It was like he had just thrown the money away! Vlad looked over briefly when he didn't hear a response from me. He saw me gaping at him and let out a large breath.

"I have money Jasmine, this should not be news to you. Honestly that was mere pocket change as far as I was concerned. If you need a reason to believe _why_ I would not take advantage of those people, then if nothing else I had to pay them to keep up appearances. Everyone has been properly compensated, if that is your concern. Now may we please let the issue drop?" I closed my mouth and looked back to the road. Vlad had really done it. He had given those people enough money to tow at least three cars and told them to 'keep the change'. Vlad had done something _nice_. Was he even aware of what he had done? He made it very clear he didn't want to talk about it. He must have known why Mrs. Brown was running towards us. I looked at Vlad out of the corner of my eye, considering his actions in a completely different way. Did he think being nice was something to be ashamed of?

"Jasmine, if you know what is good for you, you will refrain from preforming some kind of psychoanalysis because you do not understand my actions. I am not a _specimen_ for you to _study_." Vlad's hands tightened around the steering wheel to the point that the leather upholstery stretched and creaked. His eyes had narrowed and his lips became a thin line. My eyes widened and I unconsciously moved away. I really hadn't meant it like that. Vlad definitely wasn't a _thing_ for me to study. I was just confused.

"I didn't mean-"

"No? Nobody ever _does_ do they? They never mean to hurt you, they never mean to take advantage of you, but they do. Because when you're facing someone you don't understand it's _oh-so easy_ to forget that they might still be human. It's a terribly simple thing to forget that they might experience pain, that they have opinions and are capable of higher emotion or thought. That would make things complicated wouldn't it? It might make things more difficult if you remembered that maybe they don't want to be sliced open again and again, that they might have some objections about having their state of mind repeatedly evaluated as if at any moment they might go insane. But it's okay to ignore that sort of thing as long as your getting answers to your damnable questions isn't it?" Vlad glared at me for a moment with fire in his eyes, before he had to turn back to the road. If it were anyone else I might have answered. If it were anyone else I would have snapped right back that 'no it wasn't okay, but neither was it okay to be short with someone like that', but this wasn't anyone else. This was Vlad. And he was right. I had been looking for answers, and instead of simply asking what Vlad thought; I had been prepared to make my own assumptions.

The car fell into silence and I determinedly had moved myself as far away from Vlad as the car would allow. I kept my eyes glued to the scenery as it passed by, my head turned to look out the window in the door. I studied the interior design of the car, reminded again that I was riding in a Lamborghini of all cars. I was getting a ride in a Lamborghini because Vlad had wanted to drive me back to the mansion himself. Maybe he didn't have any ulterior motive about it. Maybe he was just being nice. Maybe I was making assumptions again. I really didn't mean to offended Vlad, I was just confused with his behavior. He was still Vlad, wasn't he? But then why would he do something like give away money that he didn't have to? Wasn't he supposed to be greedy and manipulating? Vlad had said it was only to keep face and stuff but really. Who would have known that Vlad had scammed the Brown's besides me, Vlad, and the Brown's themselves? Image was hardly a good enough excuse. He had to have some sort of motive though. Vlad would not just give away money for the heck of it. He just wouldn't. That wasn't how he operated. I was getting a crick in my neck from having it turned to the side for so long and my conscience was screaming at me to apologize. Even if I still didn't know what Vlad was up to, I had obviously hit a sore spot. It was painfully clear that there were things that happened while Vlad was in the hospital after his accident that he wasn't exactly fond of. Guilt twisted in my gut again as I thought of all that Vlad had probably had to deal with, if his rant was anything to go by. It really hadn't been my intention _at all_ to bring something like that up. For all that Vlad was a fruitloop he was still human and I didn't enjoy making people relive their worst memories. It really wasn't in my best interest to make Vlad angry in the first place. For one he was driving me, and for another it would make things difficult for Danny very quickly. Slowly I turned my head back to the front of the car. As I shifted around in the seat again Vlad didn't act like he noticed anything, though he was more relaxed than before. I even thought I saw a hint of regret on his face, but when I looked back it was gone. I squirmed a little before I said anything.

"I'm sorry." Vlad's answer was simple.

"Apology accepted." The car fell into silence again for a few moments. I could have sworn I heard Vlad mumble "_for Daniel_" under his breath before he let out an enormous sigh and his gaze flicked to me briefly.

"I too must apologize. My anger was unjustified." I watched, almost amused as Vlad stiffened and waited for my response. I got a little more comfortable in my own chair, not as intimidated now that I knew Vlad was as uncomfortable as I was.

"Yes it was." Vlad's gaze flicked to me again, his eyebrows rose.

"Is that so?" I smiled. It was very obvious Vlad had not expect me to answer like that. I shifted again in my seat tucking one of my hands underneath my leg.

"M-hm. based on your previous experience you assumed I was trying to figure you out like a puzzle, and without consulting you about it. You might have overreacted in context, but you had a right to be angry. You were right, that's exactly what I was doing. I was trying to decide whether you were embarrassed to be seen being a nice person or not without asking you to explain yourself first. I forgive you for your overreaction, but not for being angry, because you don't need to be sorry for that. Based on what you knew, I was behaving wrongly towards you and without reason." I watched Vlad as he adopted a look that said 'If you say so dear girl' but kept his eyes on the road. He acknowledged my response with a nod and we were back to silence again. This time I was much more relaxed as I watched the farms go by. I let myself stare at the electrical line, nostalgic, as I followed it with my eyes. The line would dip down and go back up, and go down, and then back up…

"Well, aren't you going to ask anything?" I blinked at Vlad's question and shrugged.

"Ask what?" Vlad scoffed.

"For all Daniel praises you of your intelligence, you certainly are a little slow on the uptake aren't you?" I smiled at what Danny said about me, while I only blushed a little bit at what Vlad had insinuated. I was unashamed with my answer.

"Yeah, most of the time. Book smarts, sure I've got plenty; but street smarts and ingenuity? That's Danny's job. We work well as team that way. I have all of the practical knowledge while Danny knows how to put it together into something useful." Vlad almost seemed to light up at the mention of Danny.

"No one ever said Daniel wasn't resourceful." I nodded. Danny came up with some weird stuff to get out of tight-spots, the lethal and non-lethal kind. Vlad waited a moment before he was speaking again.

"Truly though, you have no interest in the motivation behind my charity?" I nodded my head.

"Well, yeah. But you don't have to explain yourself to me if you don't want to." Vlad smirked before he replied.

"Dear girl, you should know that at this stage in my life, it is extremely difficult to get me to do anything that I don't want to. Your authority had no say in the matter." I glared good-naturedly as Vlad continued to speak. "But that is beside the point. I am giving you the opportunity to satisfy your previous curiosity and you would be wise to take me up on it. It is not often I explain my plots and schemes. So, ask." Vlad gestured with his hand for me to say something. I looked to him for a moment before I rearranged myself in my seat to face him better.

"Okay. Why did you give the Brown's so much money?" Vlad tilted his head to the side a small amount and raised his eyebrows, it was the Vlad equivalent of a shrug.

"Because I could. The extra cash obviously won't go to waste. And I have to keep myself entertained somehow. Watching people's reactions to so much tangible wealth is always amusing." I rolled my eyes. I was starting to realize that money really was no object to Vlad. He clearly understood money and it's affect on people, but he had definitely lost a little prospective on how much it actually meant to someone without endless amounts at their fingertips. When I remained silent for a while Vlad waved his hand at me again, inviting me to ask another question. So I did.

"Was it really necessary to peel out of there like that? We didn't even get to say goodbye or anything." Now a smirk appeared on Vlad's face.

"Well the get away is half the fun. It's somewhat of an art really. I hardly wanted to stand around and debate with the woman about keeping the cash. As if I actually _needed _or _wanted_ it back. It's revolting really; the way people will reject something out of modesty or some sort of honor. If it's offered, take it, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. No, the trick is to get away before they realize what their holding, but not so soon that they think it truly was an accident. It's all about timing. Thus our rather sudden departure." I watched amused as Vlad seemed to err about something in his head, shifting his grip on the steering wheel before he continued, "And if I were completely honest I rather like the fact that the Lamborghini Murcielago goes from zero to sixty in three seconds and I hardly have the opportunity to enjoy the latest sports cars anymore." Vlad almost seemed a little embarrassed about admitting that he _enjoyed_ anything and I had to laugh in my head slightly at Vlad's discomfort. Didn't every guy on the planet enjoy sports cars? I realized that this is what Danny was talking about when he said that Vlad was just your average fruitloop trillionare. I kept the smile on my face and decided to ease Vlad's stress by taking the focus off of his discomfort.

"Yeah, well it would have been nice if you would have warned me, or at least let me put my seatbelt on first." Vlad smirked.

"Yes, but I'm not a very nice person am I?" I scoffed and crossed my arms, grumbling incoherently under my breath. Vlad let out a smooth chuckle, a sort of mini evil laugh that I had a feeling he had practiced I front of the mirror at one point. Vlad got over his amusement enough to start talking once more.

"Daniel has been very excited about your visit. He simply would not rest until he had pounded it into my skull several times that I was to 'behave' in your presence. The boy is very protective you and cares a great deal. He wants your stay to be absolutely perfect, you should be flattered." I glanced to Vlad curiously and opened my mouth to say something before I closed it. What the heck was Vlad on about? I didn't doubt that Danny had been reminding Vlad on a constant basis to not be evil while I was there, but why bring it up? I decided that just continuing the conversation politely would be the best course of action. I'd figure out what Vlad was talking about eventually.

"Well, I'm excited to see him too. We do talk every day, but it's not the same as seeing someone in person." Vlad nodded cordially.

"Daniel has also informed me of your daily conversations. Never the exact details of course, but he tells me your schooling is going well and that you are happy with your academic situation. I must also commend you for assisting Daniel with his math homework. If his grades are anything to go by you have been a tremendous asset to him." I quirked an eyebrow and nodded, still very confused. Was Vlad, complimenting me? What was his deal? I just kept playing along though. Vlad was obviously headed somewhere with this.

"Danny is a smart kid. He just never had the time to try before. And like I said earlier, I just have all the practical knowledge, he puts it together. I'm just giving Danny the tools to do well." Vlad smirked and his eyes flickered to me for a moment before they were back on the road. His voice dipped lower and took on a creepy velvet quality.

"Such modesty Jasmine, its unbecoming to a young lady of your caliber." I opened my mouth and I felt my face get hot. What was I supposed to say to that? I closed my mouth and opened it again but nothing came out. Vlad let out a smooth chuckle.

"I'm jesting with you Jasmine. There is no need to be so abashed." My face only got hotter and hotter as Vlad's smirk widened. What was he doing? Where was the snarky Vlad I knew? What was going on?

"Vlad are you feeling okay?" Vlad's eyebrows shot up. A fake disappointed look came over his face.

"Truly now, can I not even compliment my _favorite niece_ without coming under suspicion?" I was completely on my guard now. Yup, Vlad was up to something.

"No, no you can't. What are you doing?" Now Vlad frowned.

"Well I thought it was rather obvious, especially to someone in your field of study." I was not in the mood to play games anymore.

"Nope, not very obvious at all." Vlad looked over to me and his face seemed to drop and become tired.

"Must I truly spell it out for you?"

"Yes." Vlad frowned at my answer and the car fell into silence. I watched Vlad and Vlad watched the road. A moment went by before Vlad was speaking.

"I'm being cordial, agreeable, pleasant. I am attempting to be likeable, or perhaps less acerbic than usual. I'm presenting a non-threatening front. I'm attempting to gain your favor. In short I am trying to get you to at least feel comfortable in my presence, if not enjoy it. Obviously I am not being at all successful. Though I suppose the history we share might have something to do with that. Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about it, if that is the case." Vlad seemed altogether bored and slightly impatient. I could only sit there and stare at Vlad. Why would he want to do something like that? What did I have that he wanted? What was he gaining from being so nice to me? I wasn't delusional; I knew that Vlad only had an interest in Danny, and to tell the truth that was fine by me. I was turning twenty-one soon and I didn't really want a new parent figure in my life at this point. I didn't need that sort of emotional support much anymore. I had never really had it to begin with, having crazy ghost hunters for parents and all. Vlad wouldn't possibly want to make me his _daughter_ of all things would he? That was just crazy!

"Why?" I asked in a short clipped voice. Vlad sighed.

"You truly are not very good at putting the pieces together are you?"

"No! We've been over this. I have my moments, I do, but that's not really my thing. Now would you please tell me what your master plan is here before I decide you've lost your mind again?" Vlad looked to me and glared slightly at my tone. I blushed but otherwise held my ground. Okay I guess I had gotten a little hysterical there, but I wasn't apologizing until Vlad asked me to. It was his fault I was so worked up in the first place.

"You are Daniel's sister correct?" he glanced to me and held my gaze. I nodded abruptly and he turned back to the road. "It is no secret that I care a great deal for Daniel. It has become increasingly evident over the course of his stay. I think of him my son, I treat him as my son, and I care for him as my son. Daniel knows this, and if I may say so, is quite happy with it. As a result Daniel has recently begun to express that he sees me in at least _something_ of a fatherly capacity, or is very firmly headed in that direction. However there is something bothering him with all of this. Ever since our trip to Clockwork's he has become extremely awkward around me. He refuses to meet my gaze and the want and regret in his eyes when he does is so obvious, he might as well have it plastered on his forehead.

When you get to the mansion you will see this. If you are _anything_ like Daniel has so elaborately described to me, you will inevitably talk to him about it. When you do talk to him I want to be sure that your image of me is as agreeable as possible so that you might not pit him against me, whatever his feelings are." I gaped at Vlad, who kept his eyes super glued to the road. He moved his hands up on the steering wheel so that he was at two and ten o'clock. He took a large breath and I wondered what the heck he would come up with now.

"Regardless, you are Daniel's sister. I have already stated that Daniel was very adamant about how precisely I conduct myself around you. He need not have worried. Daniel obviously cares very deeply for you. He has tried; time and time again to explain to me how exactly you have accepted him for both his ghost _and_ his human half and how I can trust you to be subjective about me as well. Daniel has not verbalized it, but I know that for things to work I must do more than simply acknowledge your relation to Daniel and tolerate your presence in his life.

I am willing to open my resources to you. Your financial situation; college debt, books, medical bills, insurance, transportation, gas, housing, energy, and food I am willing to cover for you until you finish your education. You may utilize my social network, with my permission and supervision, for contacts and such. You may request things such as character references or referrals from me when you apply for jobs. If you find yourself without a job or struggling to find one, I may find you work within my own companies if you so wish. In short I am offering to you the benefits of being a relation to me. Calling upon me in an emergency, requesting a place to stay in a time of need, showing up at my home unannounced, those sorts of things I am willing to allow for you.

However, I am not going to lie and pretend that I have suddenly developed some fascination with you or your exploits. I have no personal interest in you whatsoever. None. If it were at all possible to do so without offending Daniel's sensibilities, I would not be opening myself to you in this way. You're welfare is of no great concern to me. It does not bother me personally that your car is totaled, or that you were stranded with possibly no way home. In the interest of Daniel, however, is another story. If I must put it in incredibly blunt terms for you, you are the in-law that I am putting up with and nothing more. You are being appeased simply because it is ultimately in my best interest." The car was plunged into silence. I blinked before I looked away from Vlad and out the window.

I was trying desperately to catalog everything that he had said and put it into context. I wouldn't have college debt anymore. I wouldn't have to pay for pretty much anything until I was out of college and had my own job. Vlad probably knew people who could get me places simply because they liked my face! Everything, Vlad was going to pay for everything. My future was in the bag. I would never have to worry about paying for anything. I could do whatever I wanted, be whatever I wanted, and Vlad would pay for it. All because I was Danny's sister. He didn't even like me! At all! He had said just as much!

But what was Vlad talking about with Danny being upset? A frown appeared on my face and worry creased my eyebrow. At this point in the game Danny was probably just feeling confused about something. Or he was worried about how Vlad saw him now that he knew about Danny's evil future self. Danny had summed up as much when he talked to me at lunch a week or so ago. Or Clockwork had said something and Danny was reading too much into it. It could be a number of things; I wouldn't get to know for sure until I could ask Danny himself.

Regardless it was weird to have Vlad voicing his concerns about Danny's emotional state. It was obvious I had made a good decision when I had left Danny with Vlad. Vlad cared about Danny. Vlad _loved _Danny, even if he hadn't said so. Honestly there wasn't anyone else in a better position to protect my little brother either. I couldn't help but feel a little weird about the fact that it was _Vlad _of all people who felt that way towards my brother, but I would have to get over it, if the dynamic Danny and Vlad were alluding to was anywhere near the truth. I really could care less if Vlad liked me or not, if he was there for Danny as genuinely as I thought he was, I was happy. Danny had a lot to deal with at the moment and if Vlad was on his side, it was a load off my back.

I let out a long breath and leaned back against the seat. I rolled my head to the left to look at Vlad. I didn't feel bad about talking to him about Danny anymore. It was painfully obvious that Vlad had nothing but good intentions… Well at least where Danny was concerned. I opened my mouth to speak.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do." Vlad didn't respond, instead he just nodded his head in acknowledgment of what I had said. I watched him occasionally out of the corner of my eye. Neither of us said anything further. The silence was awkward for me. It seemed like there always _had_ to be talking n the car. That's just the way it had always been growing up. But Vlad didn't seem like he minded the quite at all. It was so weird to see Vlad driving a car and not doing anything. He looked so normal. I mean, he still managed to look posh and regal and all that, but driving a car definitely brought that down a few notches. He was less of a figure and more of just a guy, with emotions and feelings and worries, just like he had said. It was really easy to forget that about Vlad. He walked around like a living relic most of the time. Something untouchable and unbreakable. But driving, he was just, Vlad.

I glanced to the side out the door window and when I looked back up I shrieked at the top of my lungs.

"BAMBI!" Vlad did not react to my screaming at all. I didn't even have time to close my eyes. I instinctually braced myself for impact only to feel this weird cold tingly feeling go through me instead. The deer didn't hit the car; it started to go through it. There was a blast of cold as the deer phased through me and then the back seat, and then it was gone. I was breathing heavily and loudly and I twisted around in my seat in time to watch the deer leap back into the field around the road. I looked in front of us then to the back again, then to the front, then to the back. Still no deer. It was like nothing had ever happened. I could have only imagined it if not for the enormous evil smirk Vlad was doing absolutely nothing to hide. I gaped at Vlad. My mouth opening and closing as my brain struggled to come to terms what had just happened.

"Calm yourself Jasmine, everything is perfectly fine." I just buried my face in my hands before I looked back up to Vlad again. I could only look at him for a couple of seconds before I was back to hiding myself. I mumbled into my hands.

"Holy friggin' crap." Vlad let out a loud full laugh. I was still too much in shock to be annoyed that Vlad was laughing at me. I just stared at Vlad as he smiled like a maniac. I was shaking my head slightly. I looked backwards one more time before I faced front again and covered my mouth.

"Oh my god." Vlad shook his head at me.

"Jasmine, truly. What would you have had me do? The Lamborghini likely wouldn't have faired well. Of course I could simply buy another one, but I've already had enough car troubles for the day." I turned to Vlad.

"You were worried about the car!" Vlad raised an eyebrow.

"What else would I have been worried about?" I sputtered. What a-a…a fruitloop!

"The deer! Me! Yourself!" Vlad rolled his eyes. He rolled his eyes at me!

"Jasmine, it is a moot point. No one was in any danger to begin with. Now if you would please refrain from your further hysterics it would be appreciated. The entertainment value is starting to wane." My mouth clicked shut and I finally had my wits about me enough to glare. I did however, calm down. As much as Vlad was being an evil fruitloop at the moment it wouldn't do me any good to keep up my exasperation. Even if I had glanced at the speedometer again and seen that we were traveling at 140 miles per hour. I hadn't felt the car speed up though so Vlad must have done it gradually this whole time and I hadn't even noticed.

Yeah, Vlad was just Vlad.

* * *

Vlad and I hadn't talked really at all for the rest of the ride. Vlad was content to sit in silence and I didn't really want to start any conversation with the fruitloop so I just stared out the window. It honestly wasn't all that long until I could see Vlad's mansion in the distance. We pulled up along the white gravel driveway and instead of taking it around the fountain to the front steps we followed where it went straight along the side of the mansion. We got about fifty feet before the road sloped downward and into a giant tunnel, like a parking garage. Some sort of metal door covered the entrance. Vlad pulled the car to a stop before he dug into his wallet and pulled out a card of some kind. He held it up to the windshield behind the rearview mirror and it was only a few seconds before the door started to move. Vlad waited for the door to open before he pulled in to the underground garage. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light but Vlad seemed to be doing just fine. When they did adjust I was in awe of all the different luxury cars that were lined up one after the next. All of them of different makes and colors. We swung easily into a parking space along side some other cars and Vlad turned off the Lamborghini. Without waiting for me he got out of the car. I scrambled to gather my things and follow behind him. Vlad stopped before he closed his door and bent down to speak to me.

"Leave your things here Jasmine, someone will be by later to take care of it. We have things to do before I can take you up to see Daniel." I gave Vlad a look but did as he said. I pulled myself up out of the car. Really it was so close to the ground I might has well just been sitting on the pavement. Once again without waiting for me Vlad started walking towards where there was an opening in the solid wall of concrete, obviously were there was another tunnel or hallway of some sort. I jogged a few steps to catch up with Vlad, sliding around various sports vehicles as I came up behind him. We finally broke away from the rows of cars and were only just a few steps inside the smaller tunnel. Vlad flicked on seven light switches and suddenly the garage wasn't just lit with one or two barely glowing blubs, but it was almost blindingly illuminated by what must have been hundreds of fluorescent lights. Now that I could see properly I spotted another tunnel opposite the one we had come through, and it looked like it went downward even further. I was assuming it lead to more parking and I had to wonder just how many cars Vlad actually had.

"Further down is for limousine parking and, another level down still is the space used to accommodate house guests when I host any particular event. Now," My attention was brought back to whatever Vlad was looking at, which happened to be a huge wooden medicine cabinet. It only stuck out two inches at most from the wall, but the surface it covered must have been a square yard. There were two other cabinets just like it further down the concrete tunnel we were in. Vlad opened the door to the one in front of us and inside were row after row of wooden pegs. Each of them holding a key and a clicker. Vlad put his keys back on the only empty hook before he turned his attention to a list that was laminated and tapped to the inside of the door he had just opened. He ran his finger down the list of fine print before he came to a stop and looked back to me, seeming particularly bored.

"Pick a number between 1 and 15." I gapped for a moment and looked between Vlad and the cabinet door. I tried to look at the list to see what was on it but Vlad pulled the door back towards himself so that I couldn't see. He seemed to be becoming increasingly annoyed. "Jasmine, don't make this difficult. Do not ask me questions, just pick a number."

"Why?" Vlad growled in impatience.

"Pick a number or I am going to do it for you." I sputtered, torn between a look of confusion and anger at the way I was being treated. What was going on?

"Vlad what are you-"

"Number 8, it is then." Vlad opened the cabinet further once more and found a peg with a tiny black number eight painted over it. He snatched the keys off the hook and shut the cabinet with the short clap of wood hitting wood. Vlad held the keys above my head and pointed the clicker off into the garage.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP…BEEP BEEP BEEP…BEEP BEEP BEEP. _

A shiny red car two rows back from us started to flash its lights as its car alarm went off. It beeped a few more times before the alarm was turned off and the car stopped flashing. Vlad spoke above my head.

"That will be the Ferrari-458-Italia then. I'll have you on my insurance before your departure." I found a pair of keys being shoved into my hand. "Those two keys are identical. You may wish to keep one someplace safe as a spare. Come along then, I'm sure you wish to see Daniel." Vlad shut all of the lights off and the garage was plunged into darkness. The only light was a ball of red Vlad had created to float behind him. And he was briskly walking away without waiting for me. I stared at the keys and clicker in my hand completely baffled, until the light started to fade and I realized I needed to get moving or I would be left in the dark. My shoes slapped against the smooth concrete as I jogged to catch up with Vlad. I spoke loudly in exasperation at the fruitloop. What was his deal?  
"Vlad did you just give me a car?" Vlad didn't say anything, just continuing to walk impossibly silently down the hallway. My mouth dropped open. Oh no. This did not just happen. "You did! You just gave me a car! You can't just give me a car! I won't take the car. I can't accept something like that!" Vlad now came to an abrupt halt. We had come to the bottom of a flight of stairs. He sighed as if he were extremely tired and the energy beside him almost dimmed in response. He turned to face me, his face looking incredibly creepy in the red light.

"And why, pray tell, can't you accept the car?" I sputtered, my mouth opening and closing.

"I don't know. It's not right. I have to owe you something at least. I just can't!" Vlad looked lazily down at me completely uninterested with whatever emotional crisis I was having.

"Very well. Do you have the name and number of the mechanic that will be picking up your old car so that I may call and have it driven here after the necessary repairs are made?" I opened my mouth to tell him the mechanic's name, only to realize that I had no clue what mechanic the Brown's had managed to contact. Vlad continued, seeing my hesitation.

"I see. Do you have a number to contact the people who so graciously assisted you so that we might enquire as to where they sent the car to be fixed?" again I could only stare up at Vlad with an open mouth and wide eyes. Vlad raised his eyebrows when I still had not responded after several silent moments.

"Indeed. Then I'm afraid you're stuck with the Ferrari regardless. I could perhaps have it run off a cliff to make it more like your old car, but I'm afraid that that particular vehicle is gone for good. You have my condolences." Vlad's last sentence positively dripped with sarcasm. He then turned back towards the stairs and started on his way up. I was left to gape after him. Until the red light started to disappear again and I was scrambling up the stairs after it.

"Vlad!"


	49. Chapter 49: So, How Does That Make You F

AN:/ Yes, I'm back, and no, I don't have an excuse. If I were honest with you, this chapter was just boring as hell to write. I got really bored with the story there for a while, so much so that I contemplated not finishing it, but I perservered, and here I am. Mostly it was the people who randomly reviewed, despite the fact that I haven't updated in forever, that got my butt in gear. So you can thank them, because they reminded me that there are still people out there who want to read this. So yeah. This is what I've got for you. I don't know when I'll update again so I'm not going to give you any ideas.

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**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 49: So, How Does That Make You Feel?

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, June 15, 2012, 7:46PM_

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**Danny's POV**

_Click-click-click-click_

I was in the last period of the day and I was mindlessly tapping the spacebar as I waited for the bell to ring. I was ready to go home. It had been nice to hang out with Jazz over the weekend, and it hadn't made me any more anxious to get back to school today; even if things had very suddenly swung into my favor after the whole diabolical with Bill. I had to say that I was very satisfied with the results of my little escapade. There were a lot of times when I felt guilty about how I had treated Bill, but I had tried to let go of that. I knew the only reason I had felt bad was because I had freaked out and gone to Clockwork; that and thoughts of my evil future self were on the brain. So really I wasn't feeling bad for Bill, but I was more worried about myself. But Clockwork had said that I was going to be fine and that I was allowed to make mistakes and stuff. So I tried to focus more on the satisfied humorous feeling that would rise in my chest whenever Bill would absolutely refuse to be anywhere near me. I guess I had gone a little overboard. Instead of taking Bill down one or two pegs, I had taken him down at least ten.

I wasn't complaining about the side affects of my actions though. I could now safely say that I was pretty much the most feared person in the school. If there had been any lingering doubt as to my worthiness of being the Masters heir, it was officially gone. No one would look me in the eye for more than three seconds anymore. People generally gave me a wide berth in the hallway and looked at me with something in-between respect and fear. Mostly it was because nobody knew the specifics of what had happened. That was the way I had panned it, though. Everyone else was left to connect the dots as to what happened. They had no idea how or why Bill had been on the verge on an emotional breakdown. All they knew was that I had warned Bill of the consequences, and the next day he had been sent home rocking himself in the fetal position, muttering my name. The things people were coming up with were equally parts vulgar and uncreative. I had read a lot of theories on the school's social network, ranging from and including, poisoning, hallucinogens, and Chinese water torture. There had even been a person that suggested I had paid Bill to fake being in mental turmoil. Not surprisingly, the thought didn't seem to occur to anyone that I might have made good on my threat about _making _Bill believe in ghosts.

Regardless, the berth that people were giving me was nice. Nobody tried to talk to me anymore, unless I went up to him or her first. They didn't sneer or scoff at me like I was below them anymore. I really had done a pretty thorough job of making a name for myself using Bill as an example. Jason Laurie, who had taken to following me around like a lost puppy the previous week, was even giving me a wider berth now; only coming to sit with me in the mornings and leaving me alone the rest of the day. I don't know what Emma Conant was thinking about me anymore. I never really saw her. I would only catch glimpses of her in the hallway, and the way she was looking at me it was like she was trying to decide if I was a good guy or a bad guy. Like I either had to be one or the other, and she wasn't sure after what had happened to Bill, that I was a good guy or not. Though as long as people left her alone I didn't really care what she thought of me at this point. I had way too much other shit to deal with to be worrying about what a girl I barely knew thought of my moral standards.

_BEE-BEE-BEEP_

The bell for the end of the day rang, and the noise of everyone moving to get out of their desks and into the hallway erupted seconds afterward. I sighed and waited a moment before I started moving too. I _was_ ready to go home, but in a way I wasn't. Like I said before, Jazz had been here for three days now. She had hung out with me and Vlad a lot over the weekend. I never really had any time alone with her though. It always seemed like Vlad was there, hovering over my shoulder whenever I would try to have any sort of 'sibling to sibling' conversation with her. Don't get me wrong, it had been kind of fun, in a way, to have Jazz there to back me up with the witty banter against Vlad. We were an awesome team like that, because we cover each other's faults almost perfectly. Most of the time we ended up 'tying' with him in our little verbal spars. Though I think Vlad had a better time listening to me and Jazz when we would have one of our own little verbal battles over something completely stupid, like whether or not it was worth it for me to create an extra account on Doomed so that I could send more than one duplicate into the game. Jazz thought I should do it because it would at least get me through the game _once_ and I was already cheating with one duplicate so why not? I thought it was too much of a hassle and would make things too easy. Nobody had really won that one and we ended up calling the other stupid and dumb before we laughed and moved on to something else.

I think Vlad had been weirded out at first, with me and my sisters mock arguments. He had actually tried to stop us a few times at first. He would give Jazz a dirty look for winding me up purposefully and I had had to explain to him that we fought like that _for fun_. That had been a weird conversation.

_Jazz had just made a relatively random statement about how there was no possible way that Bigfoot could exist. We had had this conversation so many times throughout our childhood; I knew exactly how it was going to go. Naturally as the children of ghost hunters, supernatural beings came up a lot in conversation, even before we knew they were real. Bigfoot was a running joke between the two of us, just because it came up so often. I couldn't help the huge smile that broke out over my face at the complete ridiculousness of it. I threw my hands into the air, really getting into it, preparing to hurl out all the evidence that I could to support my side of the argument. "Jazz, I am telling you, Bigfoot is real! He has to be out there. Too many people have come forward and said things. Nobody can prove that he doesn't exist. The world is definitely big enough to hide him. Besides, how would you explain ghosts like Frostbite? You just have to believe!" Jazz shook her head at me, sporting a smirk just as big as mine. But before she could make a sound in protest Vlad, who had been walking in front of us, stopped and turned, glaring at Jazz._

"_Jasmine, I don't know what you are trying to accomplish with constantly instigating these arguments, but you will cease antagonizing Daniel so deliberately in front of me. I will not tolerate your continued insolence. Daniel had told me you would be cooperative and understanding not that you would be baiting him every other sentence." Jazz stopped her comeback to my previous claim and looked at Vlad with an open mouth. We had been walking down the hallway from Vlad's study where me and Jazz had been doing homework while Vlad did some paperwork. I blinked a few times while Vlad continued to give Jazz a virtual death glare. I opened my mouth in exasperation._

"_Whoa Vlad, settle down. It's not like we're actually mad at each other or anything. Can't you tell? We're smiling like, constantly when we argue like this. I thought it was kind of hard to miss how we were both grinning like idiots the entire time. This kind of back and forth is what we do for fun. It's not real or anything." Vlad tore his death glare away from Jazz to look at me like I had just declared my undying love for tap-dancing._

"_You cannot possibly mean to tell me that you argue like this constantly because you find it amusing?" I raised my eyebrow and shrugged._

"_Well, yeah. I guess if you didn't know that me and Jazz weren't really angry or upset it could seem like we hate each other, but we don't. It's just kind of our thing I guess." Vlad stared at me like I was a complete idiot. _

"_Daniel, since Jasmine has arrived, the pair of you have declared that you vehemently hate each other no less than twenty-seven times in less than forty-eight hours. You cannot mean to tell me that that was merely 'for fun'." My eyebrows shot up. H-he had been keeping track? I had no clue how to respond to this. I looked to Jazz whose eyebrows were up as well. She opened her mouth slowly, picking up where I had left off after she caught my look._

"_We don't really mean it. 'I hate you' pretty much means 'I love you' as far as we are concerned. Most any time we insult the other it's more like we're just saying 'hi'. Plus that's just how we know who's won. If all the other can come up with, as a comeback is 'I hate you' or something similar then you know that you won whatever stupid argument we've been having. We aren't really angry or anything." Vlad just continued to stare at me and Jazz as if we were some sort of alien life form. I mostly just stood there, not really knowing how to explain that I found it fun to argue constantly with my sister; to call her a moron and wait for her to call me an idiot back. The insults were actually really comforting, but I couldn't tell Vlad that I looked forward to Jazz coming over so that she could call me an idiot. Jazz was silent for a moment too before she started to talk again, trying to put mine and Jazz's 'arguments' into perspective._

"_Listen, this is just how me and Danny tell each other that we accept the other, no matter what. What does it say about a relationship, when you can constantly insult the other and not have a shadow of a doubt that there isn't any real malice behind anything that's being said? Me and Danny can be really mean to each other because we know that neither of us is taking this seriously, or that we actually mean anything we're saying. This is just how we tell the other its okay to be who we are, without being all mushy gushy all the time. We go at each other so much because we know exactly how to push each other's buttons, and it's nice to have someone you can be completely horrible to without being seen as a jerk. I don't have any other way to put this into context for you. This is just what we do to keep ourselves entertained." Jazz shrugged and looked nervously between me and Vlad. Vlad for his reaction, and me to make sure that I was agreeing with what she was saying. All I had to do was look at her and she knew I was cool with what she said. It was true, after all. Vlad looked between the two of us before he sighed. He shook his head before he turned to me with a tired and somewhat amused, or maybe it was exasperated, look in his eye._

"_I suppose this is where your vaunted skills in 'witty banter' come from, am I correct?" My eyebrows scrunched up and I reached to rub the back of my neck._

"_I don't know. I guess. I've never really thought about it before." Vlad rolled his eyes at me before he turned back around and started back down the hallway without warning._

"_Of course you haven't. Though I do wish I would have known that every time you insulted me in our past engagements you were actually declaring your undying loyalty. We could have avoided thousands in property damage." I sputtered for a moment and I only got out a staggered 'No I wasn't!' while I glared playfully at Jazz who had snorted beside me. We both started to move again behind Vlad towards the dining room. It was weirdly quite for a minute before Jazz finally said something._

"_Bigfoot." _

"_He is SO real Jazz! You have no faith in anything! Just because you haven't personally seen him, doesn't mean he isn't real!" _

I was happy though, because I think Vlad was slowly starting to warm up to Jazz. I know that he would never really trust or like her, but it seemed like he was making an effort, and he didn't really seem to _dislike _Jazz's company. That had me so relived. I honestly wasn't expecting them to all the sudden get along and want to be best pals, but it was a relief that I wouldn't have to pick between the two. The more time they spent together the less skeptical they seemed to be of each other. Vlad was seeing that Jazz wasn't just someone who wanted to hyperanalyzie all of his emotional problems and was actually a person who was pretty indifferent to the whole 'half dead' thing. While Jazz was coming around to the idea that Vlad wasn't just an evil fruitloop who was constantly motivated by some deeper plot to rule the world and make everyone his slave. It was slow going, but they could tolerate each other without too much suspicion now.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by a loud yelp. I looked over my shoulder to see Bill struggling like a fish upstream against the flow of people in an effort to get away from me. Even from where I was down the hall I could tell that Bill was breathing raggedly, or at least muttering something under his breath. The people in his way laughed and made it more difficult for him to move in the direction he wanted out of spite, pushing him every so often. While Bill struggled to navigate the hallway to be as far away from me as possible, I easily moved towards the main entrance, people nearly jumping out of my way in an effort to get out of my path. The people who were walking before me held the door open, their heads angled downward or away from where I was.

I didn't say thank you.

Outside it was overly bright compared to inside and I had to squint as my eyes adjusted. I tried to keep the rest of my face from scrunching up so that I wouldn't look too stupid. I was still where people could see me after all. I walked up to the first limo in the line, knowing that it would be mine without having to check for the discreet gold trim or the little maroon flags on the hood with elaborate 'VM's that separated Vlad's limos from everyone else's.

"Good Afternoon Clinton."

"Afternoon Mister Masters. I trust your day went well?"

"As well as expected." I swung myself into the limo and took my brief case back from Clinton.

"Hey you moron, how was school?" The rather loud yelp I let out at the unexpected voice was covered up by the slam of the door as Clinton pushed it shut just a little more forcefully than usual. My briefcase came up to protect my face before I realized what I was doing. My panic quickly passed though, when a quick glance confirmed what I already suspected.

"Jazz! What the heck are you doing here?" Jazz smirked and rolled her eyes as I set my briefcase down and started to disassemble myself. I really didn't want to have this stupid suit on for longer than necessary. Taking as much of it off while still being decent was the first thing I did as soon as I made it to the limo every day. The first thing to go was the noose-I mean tie. A quick glance and I saw that the panel separating the driver and the passengers was up. Clinton wouldn't be able to hear what we said. Jazz's voice dripped with sarcasm as she spoke.

"Yeah Danny, I missed you too." I snorted and stretched out on the bench seat opposite of the one Jazz was sitting on. I was tired. It was hard work acting like an asshole all day, and I knew Jazz wouldn't care. She had already made herself comfortable before I got in the car. Her shoes were off and her feet were tucked up on the seat. I rolled over and propped my head up on my arm so I could still talk to Jazz even if I was lying down.

"Well it wasn't exactly like I was expecting you to be here. And you know how I am with surprises." Jazz just smirked so I continued, "If you really want to know, my day was okay, same as usual. You know, me and school. But really though, why are you here? You couldn't seriously have been that bored at the mansion already? There are like, endless games and stuff to do." Jazz smiled and took her headband out of her hair before she put it back in.

"No, I was having a perfectly easy time of entertaining myself, even without you and Vlad there. I just figured that I was going to have to catch you by yourself so we could talk at some point. I'm not completely blind. I have noticed that Vlad absolutely refuses to leave you alone with me, and I figure its because he doesn't want us to talk, which must mean you have something to say; besides the fact that you and Vlad are going through a thing. Anyway, I figured I could either show up here, or wait for you in the bathroom and I thought this was be a lot less awkward." Jazz sent a beaming smirk at me and I just shook my head at her.

"Thank you so much for your consideration. Really."

"Thanks, I try." There was a beat of silence as Clinton made a turn before Jazz spoke again.

"So, you and Vlad are being really awkward, and he calls you 'son' all the time without you objecting. Want to talk about it?" I let my head fall out of my hand and onto my arm.

"Just throw it out there, why don't ya?"

"Well how else am I supposed to bring it up? It isn't exactly something I can just slip into conversation. And you've looked at me with the 'I need to tell you something' face more than once since I've been here. So if you wanted to talk about anything in private, now would be the time. We've got about two hours before Vlad will be here again and we'll have to wait until tomorrow. I don't really care if you want to or not. It's your decision. I'm not going to push you into anything. I'm just saying." I let out a long exhale after Jazz finished and I picked my head.

"Yeah, it's just…I don't know what your going to think and I don't want you to be weird about it and I don't really feel comfortable telling anyone." I watched and exactly like I knew it would, Jazz's face fell into a look of concern.

"Danny, you know I'll always be here. I'm not going to judge you or anything. Even if I am weird about whatever you tell me I'm still going to be here for you. You can tell me whatever you want and you know I'm not going to tell anyone." I ran my hand through my hair.

"Yeah, okay. I know. But, you promise you won't be weird about this?" Jazz sighed heavily and rolled her head back on her shoulders in exasperation.

"Yes Danny. I promise, now would you just spit it out?" Jazz stared at me, waiting for me to say something. I stared back for a minute. Getting all of my courage together, preparing myself to sound really stupid.

"Vlad said that he loved me, and that I was the son he never had, and that I was his family, and that he would willingly die for me." It was silent for another moment before Jazz shrugged.

"Okay, is that it?"

"Jazz!"

"What! It's not exactly new information. If it had escaped your attention Vlad has basically been trying to get you at his side for the past two years. Now that you are finally agreeing to stay with him like this, I imagine he would feel like that. He obviously loves you like a son, even to the point of being creepy and obsessive. He's always wanted to take care of you and help you, at least as long as we've known him. He's just said it out loud now. Is this what is making you be all weird? Because this really isn't something new. I rolled on the seat so that I faced the ceiling.

"Yes…no…I don't know! He's never said it out loud before, and I guess that means that I've never had to say anything back. So when he did say it I was really surprised and I didn't know what to do so I didn't say anything. And then things just happened and I never got around to saying anything back. So now every time I see Vlad I just feel like he's waiting for me to say something like _that_ and I really just can't bring myself to do it. I can't get the words to come out, at least not without meaning them! So now it's just really awkward because I feel like I'm being mean to Vlad by not saying anything, but I still don't want to say something like that without meaning it because to me that would almost be worse." It was silent as I finished rambling. Jazz looked at me again and I waited or her to say something. She finally opened her mouth.

"Oh."

"Jazz, you are really not helping right now!"

"Well what do you want me to say? What can I say? There is nothing _to_ say. All you need is time, I guess. Vlad shouldn't expect you to call him 'Dad' after only a month living with him. Heck, even if our Mom and Dad are off their rockers doesn't mean we're about to go around calling someone else those names. He has to earn the title, Danny, and he should know that. Besides, Vlad is only acting weird because you're acting weird. He just wants to make sure you don't hate him or go back that direction. That's what he told me anyway." I snapped my head to the side to see Jazz looking out the window.

"What do you mean 'that's what he told you?'" Jazz looked over to me and shrugged again.

"I mean 'that's what he told me'. Remember when you said that Vlad's reasons for wanting to pick me up after my car had broken down would reveal themselves? Well, that was his reason. He knew I was going to talk to you about whatever was going on between you and him and he wanted to make sure that I wouldn't poison your mind against him or something. He's noticed that things are weird too, and he just wants to make sure he isn't pushing you away." I looked at Jazz with a blank expression on my face for a few moments and when she didn't say anything else I let my face fall back to the seat, rolling this new information over in my head. So Vlad wasn't upset about my lack of response, he was just worried I was rejecting him? Well, what the heck was I supposed to do about that? He was being weird because I was being weird, and I didn't know how to stop being weird until he stopped being weird first. It was all just really weird! I was pulled from my thoughts when Jazz started talking again.

"Danny, you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. Just tell him what you think. Just say, 'hey, I really appreciate all of those things that you said, and I care about you too, but I need more time to sort out my end.' He'd be cool with that. It'd let him know that you weren't completely repulsed by what he said, and you wouldn't have to worry about forcing yourself into anything." I gapped at Jazz. That had to be the stupidest idea I had ever heard.

"Jazz, I can't just walk up to Vlad and say something like that!"

"Well why not?"

"Because!"

"Oh, well by all means! With that reasoning it's very clear now that simply telling Vlad that you need more time to figure things out is a completely invalid option."

"Jazz!" I glared angrily at her. She was not helping! This stuff mattered to me and I didn't appreciate her making jokes about it. Jazz sighed and when she spoke she sounded extremely tired.

"Danny, besides that it would be awkward, what is preventing you from just telling Vlad that you need more time to sort things out? It's not like Vlad would freak out, we already know that he's just worried he's scared you off. It's not like he's going to throw you out either. He was still trying to get you to stay with him even when you were a lot less cooperative. And really, what is a little temporary awkwardness compared to how you and Vlad have been tip-toing around each other anyway? I know it will be awkward, but short of continuing to be all weird around each other, what else are you going to do?" Jazz looked at me imploringly. Willing me to come up with some other option that was somehow less embarrassing and just as logical. Of course I couldn't come up with anything because Jazz was right. She usually was about this kind of thing. It was a simple solution, but that didn't make it any easier to work up the courage to talk so openly with Vlad about something like this; about him being my _Dad._ I let out a long breath.

"I hate you." Jazz smiled at the insult.

"I hate you too." We smiled briefly at the other before the limo was plunged into silence as we both recognized the end of the conversation. Jazz knew she had done her part and that the rest was up to me. I shifted my back a little on the seat and rolled over the thoughts in my head. So I would just tell Vlad I needed more time then. I tried not to psych myself out about it more than I already had, but I wasn't really successful. I really wasn't looking forward to the conversation, mainly because I really didn't know how Vlad would react. I guess I kind of knew that Vlad would most likely be cool with it and it wouldn't be as weird as I was making it out to be in my head, but that didn't stop me form feeling anxious about it anyway. I just had to get over myself enough to do the most obvious logical thing, and just sit down and have a conversation with Vlad about where exactly we stood with each other. How were you supposed to start a conversation like that anyway? 'Hey, by the way, I noticed you started calling me son and stuff and that's cool, but I'm still not ready to call you 'dad' yet or anything. Just thought you should know'. Yeah that would go over real well. It was going to be awkward as all-get-out, but that didn't stop it from being the best course of action at this point. The plan was a good one, and I would just have to work up the courage to follow through with it.

I glanced to Jazz before I looked back to the ceiling of the limo, where my eyes were naturally pointed with me laying on my back. Jazz was being really good about this whole thing with Vlad. She hadn't been weird about the fact that I was coming to see Vlad as a sort of second Dad. She didn't say anything about the fact that I seemed to be warming up to Vlad like that; though sometimes it was pretty obvious she wanted to. It had to be weird for her, but still she hadn't called me crazy or pointed out all of the things Vlad had done in the past. In fact she seemed really okay with the whole thing. Almost a little too okay with it. I rolled my head to the side to look at Jazz, my face serious. Up until this moment I hadn't really thought of this whole thing from Jazz's point of view. What if she didn't really think this was okay, but was going along with it anyway because she didn't want to tell me what to do? I needed Jazz to be cool with this, or at least understand what was going on. I didn't want her to feel like her opinion about me and Vlad didn't matter. It did. Jazz caught the movement of my head out of the corner of her eye and turned also, giving me a light smile.

"Jazz, are you okay with Vlad?" Jazz, raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of a question is that?" I propped myself up and swung my feet to the floor, sitting up properly. The action caused Jazz to perk up and pay special attention.

"I mean like how Vlad is obviously aiming to get me to see him as some sort of father figure and my not arguing with it like usual." Jazz looked at me for a moment before saying anything. She opened her mouth slowly, speaking skeptically.

"Are you asking me if I'm okay with you and Vlad getting closer towards being like a Father and son?" I felt heat rush to my face but I nodded at her question. She sighed heavily and looked to her feet before looking hesitantly back at me.

"Do you really want to know?" I frowned at her hesitancy but nodded slowly. If she wasn't okay with this I wanted to know. I didn't know what I would do about it, but I still wanted to know. She sighed again and took her headband out of her hair, pushing it back in as she started to talk.

"I really don't know Danny. On the one hand, there is all of the crap Vlad has done to us, especially you, over the years and the part of me that really doesn't want to trust him too much. Then there is the other hand, where I've seen how much he cares and how much he is obviously willing to, and has done, for you. He cares about you, a lot. That much is painfully obvious. It's just… I'm happy that you are getting along, and letting him help you and take care of you, because he's obviously doing a good job. The fact that Vlad is being so awesome and letting you stay with him says a lot of his intentions towards you.

I guess I just can't understand how you are so willing to go along with it. I know I've said that I've pretty much lost all respect I had for our parents as soon as the pointed a gun at you, and I did, but they are still our parents. It's like you are just replacing them with Vlad, and relatively easily too. It's just weird. Even if I really hate our parents for what they did I can't even imagine anyone I would ever call 'mom' or 'dad' instead. I know our parents never did much for us a kids in the first place, and that we pretty much fended for ourselves most of the time, but I still can't really see myself replacing them. It's just such a weird concept for me to wrap my head around. I trust your judgment though, and I know that it's your life and you can do what you want with it. I mostly am just trying to be here, no mater what happens or what you do." Jazz finished and looked down and away from my gaze. I looked at her for a moment. Sensing that I hadn't looked away, Jazz looked briefly back up to me before pointedly looking out the window again.

The limo was plunged into silence as I thought about what Jazz had said. I had never really thought about this like_ I_ was replacing our parents. I had always thought of it as our parents getting rid of me, and Vlad swooping in to be there for me when they weren't. I wasn't the one doing the replacing here, was I? It was okay for me to start to consider Vlad like a dad if my last one had disowned me, right? I was just a teenager; I still needed a parent in my life. It wasn't bad that I accepted Vlad as one when our parents weren't exactly doing their jobs as parents anymore, was it? I guess to Jazz it might seem like I was replacing our parents, but to me it didn't seem that way.

In a way I had always looked up to Vlad. He was the only other half-ghost in existence; he was the only example I had to look up to. Even when we were enemies I had always looked to him to guide me, even if I didn't know it. It was because of him that I started working on trying to make duplicates. I learned about the whole eye beam trick from him. A lot of what I learned about my powers came from watching him and taking his cues. Before meeting Vlad and finding out he had been half ghost, I had been completely lost with my powers. I didn't know how or even if, I could control them efficiently. After meeting Vlad though I knew that I could train myself and keep things under control. In a way, Vlad was an assurance that I wouldn't disintegrate all of the sudden from some delayed after affect of the accident. I had been looking to Vlad for security as soon as I knew that he existed. I took comfort simply in the fact that Vlad was there, that I wasn't the first to do all of this. That there was someone that I could follow instead of working to figure everything out by myself and hoping for the best. Whether I knew it or not I had always relied on Vlad to be there as someone I could look up to. When all of the sudden my parents decided they were homicidal, it had almost been natural to go to Vlad because he was the only other person who would understand. He was the only other half-ghost.

Really I never thought of it as replacing our parents as much as acknowledging a third one. As the only other half-ghost, I had felt sort of drawn towards Vlad from the very beginning. Now that I was living with Vlad and he was taking care of me, it was just so much easier to allow myself to be his 'son'. I wasn't just taking cues from Vlad on ghost powers anymore. I had let him lead me in the rest of my life too and our relationship was getting way closer because of it. I leaned back against the seat and thought for a minute on what I wanted to say. Trying to come up with something Jazz would understand. When I finally did open my mouth it felt like minutes had passed by. It was clear by how Jazz was sitting that Jazz wasn't expecting me to respond to what she had said at that point.

"Vlad is half ghost." Jazz whipped around to look at me. Now that I had her attention I kept talking, "I think that's why its so easy for me to get used to Vlad being like this, calling me son and stuff and being all weird. You know how I feel about my powers Jazz. They are amazing and I love them and would never get rid of them, but they make me different. It's hard, to walk around everyone who is normal and know that I am not like them. I am a different _species_ than them, Jazz. I'm so different and it's hard to walk around knowing it. It's hard to sit in a room and know that there isn't anyone there like you. I know that you care and that you love me no mater what and that you accept me for all of me, but your still not half-ghost. It gets lonely Jazz. So incredibly lonely.

But it's not like that with Vlad. Vlad is half-ghost like me. When I'm with Vlad I'm not alone anymore. I don't know how to explain this without sounding really creepy, but it's not even the fact that me and Vlad have to like each other for me to feel connected to him. Even when we were enemies, I couldn't help but feel drawn to him like a kid to its parent. He's the only other half-ghost in existence, the only other person who really understands what these powers mean for me. The only other of my kind.

They were just powers to me at first you know. When I first realized I was half ghost, that was all that it meant to me. But as time went on I realized that being half ghost was more than that. It changes you, makes you into something less like a regular human. Because one day you wake up and realize that you aren't exactly all human anymore and that is scary. To wake up and realize that you don't quite belong anymore. I can't really help it that I feel so comfortable around Vlad on that level, because with Vlad I do belong. I just feel like I belong. It's always been that way with him, I've just never had a reason to acknowledge it.

And now that I'm living with Vlad it's even harder not to realize just how much I want to, or how easy it is, to let myself be his son. Every time he uses his powers, every time I use mine and he doesn't give it a second glance, every time that he helps me or knows what's wrong when nobody else ever would. It feels like such a relief. It's a reminder that I am not alone; that I'll have help when I need it. And I really don't want to let go of that Jazz. I want to be able to call on Vlad like I would call on a parent because I don't want to go without that help. I don't want to feel like I don't belong." The limo was plunged into silence again as Jazz stared at me and I averted my gaze by twisting myself to look out the window. Jazz opened and closed her mouth, picking up her hand from her lap a few times, only to let it fall to her legs again. After a long moment sound finally came from Jazz's mouth.

"Danny, I don't know what you want me to say." I twisted myself back around to see Jazz. She was looking at me pleadingly, asking me what I wanted from her. I looked briefly to the floor before I brought my eyes back up to her.

"I don't really know. I guess just that you don't think I'm crazy." Jazz slumped in relief; a tired smile came over her face.

"Danny, what you explained doesn't make you sound crazy at all. I actually feel pretty stupid for not realizing some of this stuff earlier. I'll admit, Vlad and I probably won't cozy up to each other for a good long while, but I don't want that to stop you from doing anything. Thank you for explaining it better to me. It doesn't seem so weird now, and I can get where you're coming from. Though I will never claim to understand what you are going through completely, I can at least have an idea. You don't sound crazy at all Danny. Not even a little bit." I smiled tiredly at Jazz and she sent a toothy smile back at me.

"Thanks Jazz. For everything."

"You know I'm always here Danny. Even if I have to sneak into the bathroom and wait for nature to call."

"Jazz that is so weird. Only you would think of that."

"Well you can't say it wouldn't be affective. Vlad doesn't follow you into the bathroom…does he?"

"Jazz!"


	50. Chapter 50: Patients is a Virtue

AN:/ In contrast to last chapter, I had fun writing this chapter. Though I think there are a few places where it doesn't flow as nicely as I'd like it to, I'm still satisfied. Plus I'm just really excited to see what your reaction to this is going to be. I have been planing this little tid-bit for a long long while.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 50: Patients is a Virtue

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Friday, June 15, 2012, 7:54PM_

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**Third Person POV**

The lab in the basement of the Fenton residence was cold. And though the temperature outside was getting steadily colder as they headed toward winter, this was not the cause for the coldness in the Fenton's basement. The frigid air in that particular space had a completely different origin. That origin just happened to be a portal to the realm of the undead. The steel doors from which the cold seemed to be emanating were sealed tightly shut, as they had been since the son of the Elder Fentons had gone missing. The doors had only been opened for brief periods of time, no more than thirty seconds, when the Fentons had needed some samples or ghosts to capture. But still the cold from beyond the doors seeped through. Making it just frigid enough to where one might desire a sweater or blanket, but not so cold that you could be convinced to get up to get it. And of course no manner of space heaters could push the cold back from whence it came. It had seeped into the room and made itself quite at home.

And while the cold would have bothered less focused or determined individuals, the Elder Fentons were not them. They had been in the basement toiling away for days. Taking breaks only long enough to ensure that they could continue to work. Jack and Maddie Fenton had finally acquired enough raw ectoplasm to complete the second most important machine of their careers.

The machine that was going to cure their son.

The fruits of their labor were coming together, but the work was slow going. They had already put together what did not have to be dipped in raw ectoplasm, and the shell of a massive machine took up half of the space they were working in because of this. The machine was crude; not at all pleasing to look at with it's many missing panels and loose wires; the disconnected joints and unsecured controls. However with a little imagination, one might suppose that the machine looked something like an MRI machine. It certainly lent itself to that comparison, with the human sized hole through the middle and the currently dismantled and half glowing stretcher that clearly was meant to be attached to a series of rails protruding from the hole in the machine.

In fact if you paid close enough attention you might have noticed that the stretcher like panels and all the parts that were intended to be immediately connected to it, were all of the parts missing from the half completed machine. That was because for the machine to work the Fenton's needed each piece to be dipped in raw ectoplasm fifty three times. Every panel, every wire and every screw had to be dipped into a vat of viscous green liquid fifty three times, by hand, before it would be ready for assembly. Because only after each piece had undergone this treatment, would it be able to hold a level eight ghost or higher.

Only after the treatment would it be able to hold their son.

Indeed, the Fenton parents knew that their latest project would be the most important build since the completion of the ghost portal. All of their genius and knowledge had gone into its construction. Perhaps more attention and care had gone into the planning and conception of this device then had even been given to the person it was intended to save.

The origins of the machine lay in the long ago dismantled and discarded Fenton Ghost Catcher. The parts and pieces of the gadget lay in a heap like the remains of a dissected animal in the corner. The gadget had held to the answer to their dilemma, the key to eliminating their son's affliction. It had originally been designed to stave off ghostly diseases, after all. After toiling away and experimenting with any ghost-like organism they could find, the Fenton's had found that the secret to the Catcher's snaring abilities had been in the wires that made up the catchers center.

The Fenton's had designed the gadget to repel ghosts. They already knew that the specific configuration of the electrons running through the wires when the device was turned on would refuse ectoplasm in its vicinity while leaving anything else unharmed. Thus was the reason for configuring the wires into a pattern like that of a dream catcher in the first place. Arranged in such a way, the wires would prevent something from simply passing around the field the wire gave off, if forced up against it.

At first the plan had been simple. Simply pass their son through the catcher and the ghost would be removed from his body, allowing them to destroy it. The theory was sound, however the Fentons knew that when it came to their field of study the theory was often inapplicable to reality. So the Fentons acquired a few possessed objects and forced them through the Fenton Ghost Catcher. At first glance, it appeared that the experiment had worked. Whatever small blob-like ghost had been infesting the jewelry box they had sent through, was removed and had been quickly disposed of. However, upon closer examination of the jewelry box, they found a few disturbing changes. The glass lid of the box had gained a frosty appearance and the light sage green color of the outside had changed to a sickly dark teal. The latch no longer opened properly and the cushions for jewelry that filled the inside were no longer soft, but as unyielding as rocks. Clearly the item was no longer possessed, all of the Fenton's tests confirmed it, but the object had been changed with the forcible removal of the ghost. Clearly this would not bode well for their son.

The Fenton's toiled endlessly at the problem. They repolarized the device, they tried reconfiguring the circuitry, they rearranged the pattern of the wires, they changed the temperature of the room, they tried it with the lights off, they tried pushing the box through quickly, they tried passing it through slowly, they tried pass it through backwards, but nothing worked. Always, the box had changed somehow upon being passed through the net of wires. Something was happening while the box was passing through the force field, but the Fentons had no clue what.

That was until Jack wondered what would happen if the possessed object didn't pass through at all, but simply remained trapped within the catcher's force field.

With this intriguing thought the Fentons set up an experiment to see what would happen. They constructed a globe of netted wires so that something could be left inside and trapped within when the catcher was turned on. They found a possessed tissue box and put it inside before hitting the switch.

Nothing happened.

The Fenton's had failed many times before so this was no different. They turned the device off and went to work on other theories. Or at least they thought they had turned it off. It was only fifteen minutes later that Maddie locked up from her work station and noticed that the tissue box seemed to be sweating a glowing green substance.

Excited the Fentons left the contraption on until the box had nothing left to sweat and a puddle of ectoplasm was left on the counter underneath the globe. Upon further examination it was found that the box and the tissues therein were completely unharmed, they were not even soggy or stained from the ectoplasm they had been secreting. Even better the ghost within the object had been forced into disassembling its molecules in order to escape the force field. Nothing remained but raw ectoplasm.

The Fenton's had found their solution.

And so they had built their masterpiece. The large thick exterior of the machine was there to contain the blasts of escaping ecto-energy from the force field. In reality the interior of the machine was rather hallow, besides the veritable faraday cage of wires within. However their son would need to be contained while he was treated. It was expected that the ghost inside their child would struggle, and they needed to be able to hold him within the device until it had done its work.

Thus was the last step to be completed before the machine would be operational. So Jack and Maddie Fenton dipped all that was necessary into their precious supply of raw ectoplasm until all of the components were treated and the rest of the machine had been assembled. It was truly a sight to see. The lager formidable steel container, glowing eerily from within due to the necessary restraints. It crackled and hummed like a large colony of angry wasps when the switch was flipped and electricity was coursing through the maze of wires. You might almost be fooled into believing that inside the machine was something alive.

So with their masterpiece operational and all obstacles overcome the Fenton Parents only now had to find their son. But Maddie Fenton, the clever woman that she was, had concocted a plan for that long ago. They wouldn't find their son; their son would find them. Every ghost had an obsession; every ghost had only a primitive intellect and thrived solely on that one purpose that had prevented them from moving on. Maddie had concluded that the ghost that was fused inside their son was no different. What had Danny always made time to do? What escapades was his ghost half always getting up to? What was the main goal of Phantom? The obvious answer was saving people from other ghosts. All Jack and Maddie needed to lure their son back home, were a sufficient amount of people that needed to be saved. Phantom's obsession would do the rest.

Phantom had been able to manage his obsession so far. No one had been truly and irreparably hurt by the small ghosts that seemed to infest everything. And with the Fenton's going around, those little ghosts had be prevented from getting too much of a hold in their town. They had been treated to a few more powerful ghosts, but Jack and Maddie had quickly harvested the large amounts of ectoplasm they provided and anything stronger had seemed to stay away.

So as soon the last bolt was tightened, Jack pushed the genetic lock on the portal. The cold from behind the previously closed doors breezed into the Lab and made several hanging vials tinkle together. The couple turned their backs on the swirling green abyss and walked calmly upstairs. Both were ready to take a long rest. Besides, all they head left to do now,

was wait.


	51. Chapter 51: Death is Indiscriminate

AN:/ If the last chapter didn't convince you I was evil, this one will. If you're confused don't hesitate to review or message me. Have fun!

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 51: Death is Indiscriminate

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Monday, June 18, 2012, 8:33PM_

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**Sam's POV**

You always hear about how seeing death will change a person. It's always talked about in books or movies. The main character will watch someone die and that motivates them to do something spectacular. I guess I believed that stuff, even if I did think it was cliché and overdone. I mean really, if you saw someone die in front of you, wouldn't you be more freaked out and depressed than worrying about how it's going to change your life? I guess it never quite made enough sense to me for me to accept that that was what happens when you watch someone die.

* * *

_The smell of ozone was thick in the air from disconnected wires. There was a mad cackling from within the Computer Store. Me and Tucker launched ourselves out of my car, already laden with ecto-weapons. Tucker's eyes widened as he recognized the mad cackle. He had a specific beef with this particular Ghost._

"_Technus, I'd know that laugh anywhere." I looked briefly to Tucker as he was digging around in his pocket for his PDA. It had always come in handy when defeating this ghost before. _

* * *

It was starting to make sense though. People all reacted differently to death. Some people did use it to drive them for a greater purpose, but some people shut down and caved in on themselves. Other people just went on, like nothing ever happened. I didn't know how I was going to deal with something like this. I had never really had to deal with death before. Danny hadn't really died in the portal. I hadn't ever really attended any funerals of people who were close to me.

* * *

"_Tucker, are you sure this is going to work? I know this is what was usually do with Danny, but-"_

"_Sam, it's not like we have any other choice anyway. It will be fine. All Danny ever did was provide the distraction anyway. We'll be fine without him. We've been doing okay so far, haven't we?" Tucker clicked on his scuffed and abused scooter helmet. Mine was already on. We never went into battles without them anymore. We'd been reminded that Danny wasn't there to put a shield over our heads more than once. _

* * *

The thing I didn't expect about watching someone die was the crushing guilt I was going to feel. I knew it wasn't my fault. I knew there was nothing I could do, but I still felt responsible. There should have been something that I could have done to prevent it. I had a weapon in my hand; all I had to do was pull the trigger and the big screen TV would have at least been thrown off course.

* * *

"_Tucker, get out of there as soon as you have the virus uploaded. Without Technus supporting all of the electronics we don't know what is going to come crashing to the floor okay?" Tucker sent me one of those adorable cheeky smiles before he charged forward._

"_Just distract him for as long as you can Sam, don't worry about the rest! We got this!" I let out a heavy breath as I watched Tucker disappear around the back of the building. I charged forward, screaming at where I thought Technus was in the store._

"_Hey mullet boy! Are you still trying to figure out where the floppy disks are supposed to go? Or were you distracted by the shiny disks again?" _

* * *

Another thing I didn't expect about watching someone die was the anger. It wasn't a specific anger either, it just made me want to scream and cry and thrash for no reason at all. It wasn't fair! This shouldn't have happened. It had no reason to happen. It didn't accomplish anything. Maybe if the Fentons hadn't suddenly hauled up in their house, refusing to come out, maybe if we knew why the ghosts that were showing up were steadily becoming more and more powerful, we might be able to stop them. But they weren't and we didn't.

It was a senseless murder, a mistake that never should have happened. I walked up the stairs to Tucker's house and knocked on the door. Tucker's mom answered. Her face was solemn; none of the usual matronly love and joy was there. She didn't call me 'sugar' or invite me inside. She simply stepped aside and I walked in.

* * *

"_Hold still so you may meet your doom at the hands of me, Technus, Master of all Technolo-AAAAH-AH-AH-A" Technus started to scream in a static-y voice that skipped like a CD in a bad CD player. The screens that were hovering around me started to crash to the ground as they went to static and then powered off. The crash of broken glass and cracking plastic started to crescendo. I called out for my partner, still not seeing him emerge from the back room._

"_Tucker!" The door to a small room behind the wall of cash registers burst open and Tucker came out, halfway dragging a petrified cashier along with him. Tucker shouted at me over the noise. _

"_Sam, help me get him out of here! He's going into shock!" The guy, about our age, was gasping and sweating profusely. I didn't give it a second thought as I started to move towards them, ready to help. A spark above them caught my eye. It had come from a TV, an old analog television that was mounted above the doorway and much too large to be reasonable. Its mount was still only barely attached to the wall. I watched the mount tilt just a small amount and the TV start to slide off._

"_Tucker, above you!" _

* * *

I walked into Tucker's room. It was completely dark, besides the "snake pipes" screen saver that was running on Tucker's computer. The glow reflected off of Tucker's face. His glasses especially, were like mirrors in the dark room. I didn't turn on the light and instead I stubbed my toe on something as I made my way over to the bed, which was right next to the computer so that I could sit with him. I watched him stare at the screen for a long minute. When it was clear he wasn't going to acknowledge my presence, I spoke softly.

"Tucker, this isn't your-"

"Don't say that."

"No! You listen to me! This is not your fault any more than it is mine!" I glared angrily at Tucker. He finally spun his chair to look at me. His face was thrown into sharp relief by the computer screen. A seriousness that was never there was amplified by the unusual lighting.

"I could have pulled him away. I should have pulled him away. It should have been me."

"Tucker Benjamin Foley don't you ever say that to me again! Do you know what it is like knowing that could have been you? If you hadn't jumped to the side, if I hadn't said anything, if you had been just a second slower. Don't patronize me with this! If you had… I couldn't…" tears were making their way down my cheeks at a rapid pace. Snot was starting to clog my nose and my breathing was heavy from shouting. I kept up my glare regardless and Tucker looked down, suddenly ashamed. His voice was a whisper.

"I'm sorry Sam. You are right, like always, just please don't cry." He shifted with a practiced movement from his computer chair to the bed. The extra weight causing it to dip to the side, unintentionally tipping me into him. I felt more than saw his arm come and rest on my shoulders. I turned and latched tightly onto him. Crying noisily into his shirt. I gasped through my tears.

"Don't ever leave me Tucker Benjamin Foley. Do you understand? You are never allowed to leave. If you did, I…I don't think I would…" I felt the slow movement of a rough hand on my back. My breath automatically shuddered and came gradually back under control.

"Shhh, I'm not going to go anywhere Sam. I'll be here as long as you want me to be. Okay?" It was silent again but Tucker just continued to rub my back, even though I was back under control and only a few tears still leaked from my eyes.

They say that death changes people, that it changes their outlook on life. Now I finally understood what they said. Now I understood what death does to people. It's not about realizing what you've lost. It's about realizing what you still have to loose. It's about realizing what you have that is important to you and just how fragile life really is. It's about realizing that you only live once, and that if you don't act now, you may never get the chance to.

"We're always going to be there for each other, right Tucker? You'll be there for me and I'll be there for you. Even when we're really old and I'll have to use a scooter like my Grandma Ida. I want you to always be there with me." I felt fingers gently run through my hair. The silence in the room was thick. I felt like I was breathing the same air over and over again as I pressed my face into Tucker's chest but I didn't care. I didn't want to loose him. I didn't want to loose _this_. I felt Tucker draw in a breath, his hands never pausing.

"Sam."

"Hm?"

"I love you."

…

"I love you too."


	52. Chapter 52: Alcohol

AN:/ so it's been two months. But you know what, I don't care about the rotten tomatoes you are going to throw at me, because I was busy seeing my dad getting a tan and loosing twenty pounds. I'm almost bellow the 300 mark now so I'm gonna keep going. Which means I don't know when I'll be updating again. So nananabooboo stick your head in doo doo. I want to get healthy and loose weight because it feels good dammit! Anyway, This one's a shorty. It honestly took me about three hours to throw together. I figured i should throw you guys a bone before you thought I had died or something. You guys are really going to hate me after this. I just know it. especially because I probably won't be updating for a while again.

* * *

**Running to the Enemy's Arms**

Chapter 52: Alcohol (The cause of, and the solution to, all the worlds problems.)

by: deadlydaisy8o8

_Originally Uploaded: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 5:22 PM_

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**Vlad's POV**

Something was wrong.

I truly did not need any sixth sense to determine this little fact. Daniel had had scarcely three bites of his lasagna since he had sat down. Usually it was a feat to get it to stay on the table for longer than thirty seconds. I knew Daniel particularly enjoyed the dish, so I had it prepared more often than not. The fact that he was attempting to dissect the layers of his food with surgical precision rather than eat it was as good as a neon sign that read, 'something is not right, and is making me incredibly uncomfortable.'

Daniel had been acting in this sheepish manner ever since I had gotten home. Not that he had been making a point of looking me in the eye before this point, but he seemed to be avoiding my eyes more determinedly than usual. Something was causing him to become sheepish and embarrassed, and it seemed as if I were the source of it. There were a number of things that could have caused him to act this way. Something might have happened at school regarding Daniel's relation to me. Someone might have said something. Daniel might have developed some misguided notion all on his own.

None of that was what was causing my little badger distress however. No. Daniel had finally had his little talk with his sister. It was increasingly obvious this was the case by the way Daniel would glance to Jasmine at the other side of the table whenever my gaze would wander his way. The way Jasmine smiled encouragingly, almost apologetically, at Daniel whenever he would look to her for reassurance. They were essentially having a conversation without me and about me the way that they were looking at each other. I was positive that words had been exchanged between the two about my person at some point today.

"This is really good Vlad. I really like it. It is filling though. I don't think I could have another bite." Jasmine gently pushed her plate away from her person while turning to me, sporting an innocent grin. I only briefly met her gaze, keeping up a pretense of grudging indifference.

"If you are sufficiently full then of course you are not required to eat the entirety of your meal. I am pleased the food was up to your expectations." I glanced to Jasmine while continuing my own meal, indifferent to her comment and only minimally acknowledging that she had spoken in the first place. Oh yes I was more than aware that Jasmine and Daniel had had words. Which meant that inevitably Jasmine was the cause of Daniel's seeming increased reluctance to interact with me.

Jasmine's innocent smile faltered for a fraction of a second before it was back up with half of its sincerity. Daniel's eyes had once more searched for Jasmine's reassurance at my cold demeanor; searching for her instruction on how he should react. Though instead of giving him any signal that she was uncomfortable or unsure with my response she merely sent him another comforting look of encouragement, even if this one was not as communicative of the message as the ones previous. I resisted raising an eyebrow at the curious behavior. Jasmine looked to me once more.

"Well. All of this food is making me really tired. I had a pretty full day trying not to get lost in this huge mansion. If it's all right with everyone I think I'll be off to bed. Getting up to my room by myself should be a cake walk compared to getting around the rest of this maze." Jasmine's gaze bounced between Daniel and myself, clearly asking each of us a completely different question, even if she had worded it to apply to both of us. I twirled my fork briefly in my fingers.

"You are more than welcome to escort yourself to your chambers if you wish. You know how to find assistance should you need it. Have a good evening Jasmine." I went back to my meal and Jasmine's eyes swiveled to Daniel. I watched as his posture pleaded with her to stay. He cleared his throat.

"G-good night Jazz." A look that could only be described as motherly appeared on Jasmine's face as she got out of her chair and pushed it back in.

"Good night Danny. See you in the morning." Without saying another word Jasmine moved to the door and shut it with all gentleness, producing a barely audible 'snick'. Daniel's gaze lingered on the door, almost willing it to spring back open and reveal his sister there. He forced himself to tear his eyes from the door and back to his plate. He moved his lasagna around on his plate distractedly as I watched him out of the corner of my eye.

After long tense moments Daniel's eyes flicked briefly up to mine. It was only a moment, but the brief eye contact caused him to blush furiously. I raised an eyebrow at his skittish behavior as I brought another forkful of pasta to my mouth. Daniel's gaze flicked up to me once more and he blushed even more deeply at seeing my obvious acknowledgement of his behavior. The pretense of ignorance gone Daniel shifted around in his chair. His hand came up to rub the back of his neck. Those blue eyes flicked from me to his plate to the various paintings around the room and back. He cleared his throat obviously as he scooted slightly forward in his chair.

"H-hi." My eyebrow shot right up to my hairline at the strange start to this conversation. However I replied none-the-less.

"Good evening Daniel." He blushed at my response and breathed once heavily in and out as he forced himself to continue to speak.

"So, um…the lasagna was really good today." I dabbed my napkin on my lips as I put my fork down on my plate.

"Was it? I assumed by the lack of actual consumption that took place it was unsatisfactory." Daniel's head ducked and he blushed and stuttered for a response.

"G-guess I just wasn't hungry." I tipped my head upwards slightly making a noise of acknowledgement.

"Mhm." And just like that, whatever conversation Daniel had intended to start was over. The room was plunged back into silence; not even the ticking of some stray clock was there to fill the silence. I waited, patiently, as Daniel squirmed in his seat. His silverware loudly clicking against his plate in the silent room as he attempted to fill the empty space with _something_. His gaze flicked around the room once more before he coughed again. He seemed to teeter on the edge of some decision before he moved very obviously to get out of his chair.

"Well it's getting late. I think I'll just-"

"Daniel." I interrupted Daniel's hurried and desperate excuses. He was already out of his chair and headed towards the door, conducting himself with none of his usual grace. Obviously yearning to be away from this situation and me. At my low annoyed tone Daniel stopped in his tracks. He seemed to struggle to swallow for a moment before he turned back towards me. He opened his mouth but no words came out. I slowly rose out of my own chair and took deliberate steps towards the nervous teen.

"I am not a fool Daniel. I'm sure we will be more comfortable in my study while you tell me whatever it is you seem to be having trouble with. Come along." I strode silently past and Daniel's quieter than usual, but still loud footsteps took up behind me. I observed that Daniel choose kept pace behind me, like a lost puppy or a duckling following its mother, and did not come up to walk beside me as an equal, like he usually did when we walked about the mansion. Yes something was definitely wrong.

Without preamble I arrived at my office and opened the door. Daniel needed no prompting and quickly filed in when I steeped to the side. After I had shut the door and turned I found Daniel standing in the middle of the room, looking to me with no clue what to do with himself. I patiently shooed him to the small lounge area so that we could occupy the two couches there.

I sank into the sofa and allowed myself to lean back into he cushions. I draped my arm over the back and crossed my legs, hoping my relaxed posture would put the teen at ease. My hopes were dashed when Daniel took up none of my cues. His leg bounced as he sat ramrod straight on the edge of the cushions. Like a bird perched for flight. I studied the teen for a moment silently assessing his tense posture. Casually I reached behind myself to the sofa table where I knew there was a bottle of bourbon and a few glasses.

"Would you like a drink, Daniel?" I didn't wait for Daniel to answer and grabbed two glasses regardless. I quickly uncapped the bottle I had grabbed and swiftly poured two shots.

"W-What?" Daniel watched my actions like he had never seen anyone pour a drink before. I recapped the bottle I had grabbed and set it off to the side. I pushed one of the shots across the coffee table towards Daniel.

"A drink, Daniel. I asked if you would like a drink. I do believe you know what I mean by the question?" Daniel gapped at me for a movement while I picked up my own shot and gave it a small sip. Just enough to cover the tongue. Daniel stuttered for a moment.

"I-I'm only sixteen." I draped my arm back over the back of the sofa, glass still in hand. I quirked an eyebrow and let sarcasm heavily color my voice.

"Really, you're that old?" I let a smirk slip onto my face with the exasperated look Daniel gave me in return. I was speaking before he could get out a word in retaliation. "I could do three straight shots of vodka by the time I was fourteen Daniel. You are going to be fine. One glass of 1937 Kentucky Bourbon isn't going to hurt you." Daniel closed his mouth and looked at me skeptically. Eyeing the glass on the table as if he weren't sure it wasn't going to suddenly explode. I rolled my eyes and brought my own glass to my lips for another sip.

"Just give it a taste Daniel. Just to see how you like it. I promise I won't tell anyone." Daniel looked carefully between me and the glass on the table before he reached out and gently picked up the crystal glass. I watched in some amusement as he brought the glass up to eye level so he could inspect the amber liquid. He turned the glass around in his hand before he brought it tentatively under his nose to give it a sniff. His nose crinkled up for a moment before he brought the glass back under his nose to try again, as if he couldn't decide whether it was a good or a bad smell. Quickly Daniel glanced up to me over the rim of the glass before he put the glass to his lips and tilted it back just a small amount.

It was only a moment before his eyebrows shot up and he looked back to the glass in his hand with surprise. I gave him a sly smile as he lowered the glass from his face, but didn't put it back on the table.

"Be sure to only take small sips. This isn't cheap whiskey and you won't impress anyone by throwing it down." He gave me a small nod before he brought the glass back up to his lips. I waited for Daniel to drop the glass to his lap again before I spoke.

"Very well Daniel it is after dinner, we moved to the sitting area to be undisturbed, and we have our drinks. I don't believe you will get a more opportune time to breech an uncomfortable subject." I peered over my glass as I went to take another sip. Daniel's face became red and his hand tightened almost imperceptibly around his glass. He mumbled under his breath.

"I don't know how to start." I breathed in before I spoke.

"The beginning has served me well over the years." I was given a brief glare of acknowledgement before Daniel seemed to think for a moment.

"Jazz was in the limo on the way back from school today." I hummed.

"So that is how she managed it then." Daniel blushed and brought his glass up for a sip as I continued, "Very well. I knew it was going to happen eventually. Continue." Daniel fidgeted and scooted back on the sofa to get comfortable.

"So Jazz was in the limo." In a moment Daniel seemed to realize something before he was speaking with urgency. "I had no clue she was going to be there and she took me completely by surprise." I ignored Daniel's assumptions about his supposed 'betrayal' and his attempts to clarify.

"A humorous sight, I'm sure." Daniel glared over a blush before he continued.

"And while we were in the limo we talked."

"You mean to tell me you didn't just sit there and stare at each other? Daniel I must say that given the circumstances this is completely unexpected."

"Vlad, please." I sighed at the pleading look Daniel was giving me. I recognized the twang in my gut as guilt and let out a large breath. I attempted to look repentant as I made a point of setting my glass down on the coffee table.

"I apologize Daniel. Please continue." Daniel gave me a look of thanks before he raised his glass to his lips and took a sip. He lingered on the taste for a moment before he looked to the corner of the room.

"Jazz said she'd noticed that you called me 'son' and that I didn't seem to mind it." I didn't say anything when Daniel paused and looked to me. I merely waited Daniel to continue in his own time. He took a breath and spoke.

"I told her that I was okay with it because you had said that you l-loved me, and that you thought of me as a son, and that you would die for me." Daniel had changed his position so that his elbows were resting on his knees and he was rotating his glass between his fingers as he spoke to the floor.

"She still didn't understand why we were being all weird around each other so I told her…" Daniel paused in his fidgeting and brought the shot glass up to his lips once more. "I told her that it was because I hadn't said anything back. And I thought that you were upset because I hadn't said anything after you said that stuff. And I thought that you were waiting for me to say something like that, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just can't because I don't want to say something without meaning it." Daniel's gaze moved from the floor to meet my eyes.

"I can't do it Vlad. I'm sorry. I can't do it right now. I need more time. I just need more time. I can't…" Daniel's gaze ripped from mine as his eyes became glassy. I swiftly maneuvered from my couch to Daniel's. He looked up to me when he felt me settle beside him. I tentatively moved to put my arm on his shoulder and when he made no move in protest I rested it there and pulled him closer.

"It's okay Daniel." Daniel's voice was muffled by my shirt and chest.

"Really?"

"Yes Daniel, _really._ If you need more time I can wait. You've made me very proficient at waiting." I felt Daniel try to push away from my side.

"Vlad I-"

"Shush, Daniel. I tease. It is getting late. I think its time we went off to bed." I got up off the couch and pulled Daniel to his feet along with me. He leaned into my side for a brief moment before he was upright.

"Vlad, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Daniel I said it was okay and I meant it. You are worrying over nothing. Come now, it really is about time we each got some rest. I'll put the glasses away. You trot off to bed."

"Vlad-"

"Good night Daniel." Daniel stopped and looked to me, his hand poised to gesture. He let his limb fall to his side and he reluctantly walked to the door. He turned to face me as I was putting the Bourbon back in its proper place.

"Good night Vlad." The door fell shut with a gentle 'click'.

I waited a few moments until I was sure Daniel was gone before I poured the remainder of Daniel's drink into my own and threw it back, slamming the empty glass back down.

Daniel did not want me as a father.


	53. I Lied

AN:/ I lied. I am a liar. My pants, they are on fire. And I would really appreciate it if someone would call the fire department because its really really uncomfortable. I'm going to tell you a really short story now.

It's about a girl. She wrote this story. It was an epic really. It got a lot of reviews, almost a thousand. But time had gone by. two years in fact. And she grew out of the story. She didn't really want to write it anymore. She was beating herself over the head about it, but she just could not muster the enthusiasm to sit down and write it anymore. At all. It was actually quite pathetic because the girl was so incredibly close to the end. But, the girl had known how this story was going to end for over two years now, and quite frankly the story bored her to tears, sometimes literally. It was no longer interesting in the least. Not even a little bit. It was no longer a labor of love it was a labor of loathing. Very intense loathing that had given her more grief than she probably knew the story was worth.

And then her pants caught on fire and that's when she knew. It was time.

So my dear friends, this is my not so subtle way of telling you I am done. I am so SO done. This is the end, or at least a summarized version of it.

Because I cheated. I am a cheater. And i am rather fond of pumpkin pie. So this is my way of soothing my conscience. what this chapter is, is my outline, that has been sitting on my computer, for months now. I wrote this, intended to be only read by me, so it is completely unedited. but this is how I basically saw the rest of the story playing out. If someone wanted to be brave and write it, they have all the permission I am allowed to give. But for me, this is the end. I doubt even a hundred reviews would get me to write more. I am seriously so done with this. i cannot do it anymore, and I don't want it over my head. So there you go.

Brief summary.

Okay so what's going to happen next is that the next chapter is going to be from Jazz's point of view. In that chapter we'll time skip forward a few more days, briefly we'll go over how Vlad has been treating Jazz with absolute contempt, treating her as if she were less than dirt or not even there. While at the same time Jazz has been noting the changes in interaction between Vlad and Danny. Danny has become sheepish and embarrassed. He is now always trying his best to impress Vlad, looking to him for approval, even if he isn't conscious of his actions. Vlad attempts to keep the façade of acceptance up, but anyone can see that Vlad's smiles aren't genuine. He looks at Danny with eyes full of disappointment and sadness. He walks around the mansion with his shoulders ever so slightly slumped. He doesn't pay attention quite as much as he usually does. His gaze lingers on Danny whenever he is in eyesight, as if pining over a toy that is just out of reach. Jazz sees all this going on and as the separation and anxiety between the two gets worse she is more and more scared to leave them alone together, because if she does it might get worse. She tries to think of something to get the two to cooperate and understand eachother again and what she comes up with is a training session where Danny shows her what he's learned while with Vlad. During the training session a little of Vlad's paternal side comes back and he recognizes Danny's efforts to please him somewhat. Danny jumps on the feedback and gives his all, doing everything he can to keep Vlad happy with him. While eventually Vlad realizes that he has been acting like a father to Daniel again and he backs off, causing Danny to become depressed and anxious, thinking that he did something wrong. Somewhere in the middle of all that, Vlad will stress the importance of practice, while Danny will make a comment about how there aren't any ghosts around to practice on. Jazz will then bring up the question of why there aren't any ghosts around Vlad's house and that will bring up the subject of marking territory. Danny will get a brief lesson on how that is done, while Jazz learns a little more about Half Ghosts. Somewhere in there, Danny's hair starts to get in the way and he is convinced to put his hair into a pony while he works out. The similarities of the hairstyle and color of Vlad's in human form are completely lost on Danny. While Jazz and Vlad just choose not to comment.

Next chapter:

The next chapter we see Danny in school, the first hour of the Day, Business math. We'll go through his thoughts on Vlad's recent behavior. He'll be feeling an immense amount of guilt and anger for both himself, Jazz, and Vlad. He'll be anxious and confused. Next I'll explain a project that they have been assigned in class. They are to look at the trends in the stock they have bought, and then do research on the market for the stock to analyze what might be driving the prices up and down. They are to analyze one stock a week until they have done all of the stocks in their Portfolio. Danny has just gotten to the Axion Labs stock. He sees the trend that Axion Stock has been rising, which is good. But when he does the market research he realizes that it's because more Axion Ghost hunting products are being bought, specifically by the clientele in Amity park. Danny get's suspicious and checks out the market some more, but there is nothing but a load of stories indicating that his town is happy he's gone and that ghost activity is down, meaning that ghost weapons shouldn't be in higher demand. Danny does more digging and finally finds a real article, one that tells of his town being completely overrun and calling for his return. From that article his is linked to a plethora of others and he reads article after article about how his town is falling apart. As he goes back to the other false articles he realizes that all of them were written by Ghost Writer going under different names and psydoumes. Danny is extremely confused until he get's a look at the editors name and realizes that it's just an anagram for Vlad Plasmius.

Danny draws all kinds of conclusions. Mainly that he hasn't been able to fully trust Vlad and take the last step towards 'Dad', because he knew somewhere that Vlad was keeping something from him, and that really Vlad has just been manipulating him from the start, to keep him away from his town and people who needed him. He suddenly feels incredible anger for Vlad and what he's hidden from him. He goes to the main office to say he's going home sick before he plants his cell phone and his laptop in the bushes before he takes off for Amity.

Next Chapter.

He gets to amity and there is a massive epically long fight scene. He meets up with Sam and Tucker and they have their various reactions. Mainly he saves them from a run in with Technus, but only knocks him out and away for a while. Sam accuses him of turning evil while he was away, because he looks different now and never came back for them. Tucker is mainly afraid of him, but sticks up for Sam when Danny starts to get angry at Sam. Sam starts exploding about how she was never good enough for Danny but he lost his chance because she's with Tucker now who actually cares. She says that they never needed Danny anyway. This only solidifies what was in Danny's head in the first place. As Technus starts to wake up, Danny leaves Tucker and Sam to deal with it, instead of helping them out of the fight. He ends up exhausting himself and just as his parents had planned. They suck their son up into a Fenton Thermos and take him back to the lab to wait for him to come around.

Next Chapter.

Danny comes to and realizes where he is and promptly starts to freak out. There is a lot of creepy dialogue between him and his parents, while he is strapped to a metal table that he can't get out of. He tries to reason with his parents, telling him that he really is their son, but they won't have any of it. Danny pleads with Jack as he pushes him into the machine. Jacks says that he is sorry but that a real father is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep his son safe, even if they don't understand why at the time. Instead of Danny being comforted, he is reminded that Vlad had kept him away from all of this. It strikes him that maybe Vlad didn't want him to be near his parents or any of this danger and that if he had just listened to Vlad he wouldn't be in this situation. As he is put into the machine he starts to scream out in pain, absolute agony. He calls out for the first name he thinks of. Eventually he begins to stutter through the pain and Vlad turns into Dad… in every sense of being.

Next Chapter.

Clinton calls Vlad and reports that Danny wasn't there to be picked up from school. Vlad becomes worried and accesses the laptops and cellphone's tracking devices. He sees that they are behind the bushes at the school still. Vlad abandons his work, signing out for the day before he teleports to Danny's things. He finds them discarded in a heap but still useable. He hacks into Danny's drive and takes a look at his user history only to descend into a blind panic, seeing that Danny has discovered what he had been keeping hidden. He teleports to the outside of the Fenton house, where they have a ghost shield up and another massively epic battle ensues. Vlad's number one priority is to get Danny to safety, But in the process, Vlad lets all of his wrath out upon the elder Fenton's. There is a lot of heated dialogue and acusations of insanity. Vlad let's the leash of his temper and they die. Vlad takes Danny home to try and heal him. Jazz who's still at the mansion is horrified and breaks down into hysteria. Trying to hold herself together for when Danny wakes up. Vlad however, realizes that at this point Danny has only scant minutes to live, most of his life force having been forced out of him. Vlad, strangely calm after having just killed two people, keeps his head on and realizes this is what Clockwork meant when he said that he would be available. He goes to the ghost Zone and asks for admittance. Instead of Vlad going to Clockwork, Clockwork comes to Vlad. Clockwork pauses time and slipps a medallion over Vlad's neck, allowing him to work on Danny without risk of his 'time running out'.

Next Chapter

Eventually Danny wakes up he blinks blerily for a moment before everything comes rushing back to him. He tries to bolt upward and scream but he finds himself only capable of twitch and a whimper. Vlad who is of course nearby, rushes to his side, brushing the hair off of his forehead, looking worriedly into Danny's half closed eyes, trying to calm him. Eventually Danny is calmed by vlad's efforts, as evidenced by his neck relaxing and the steadying of his heart moniter. Vlad informs him that he has been out for nearly two weeks, slowly regenerating his energy and that he will likely be bed ridden for weeks to come. With extreme pain in his voice he regails to Danny that while he still has his ghost half he will most likely never be as powerful as he once could have been, his powers will be permantly stunted, though he goes on to say that even with stunted powers, they are still increasing as he is still not fully grown, and would likely level off to something around vlad's level when they were done. Vlad goes through a plethora of little routine checks. He give Danny water, not letting him even try to hold the glass. He adjusts danny's pillows. He fluffs his comforter. He makes sure the temperature is just right. He asks Danny if he has energy enough to eat. Etc. All of the fussing causes Danny to smile and realize what had always been in front of his face. He manages to lift his hand and brush Vlad's arm. Vlad emidiately stops and directs all of his attention to Danny. Quickly trying to asses the problem. Danny waits for Vlad to calm somewhat before he grins and whispers a horse "Love you Dad." Vlad stops for a long moment not sure what to say, but before he can get his wits back Danny has already fallen back asleep.

Next chapter:

The Fenton's were declared casualties of a disaster, attacked by a ghost and dying valiantly to protect the town. After Danny passes out from exhaustion and just before the Fenton parents take him away there are a few people who see Danny in his human form beign carried by his parents. It is declared that the Fenton's were actually right and that Ghosts had abducted their son. And that he had been returned to them in the battle. Custody of Daniel Fenton fell to Vlad Masters, now that the Fenton's were deceased. Months later It is made public that Danny is the Masters heir and there is a cover on Forbes magazine of Danny and Vlad standing next to each other, Vlad's hand on Danny's shoulder. Anyone who knew about Danny before the guardianship and adoption was leagal can't say anything about it because the wish Vlad made is still in affect. So no one besides those who came in contact with Danny know that something was off about the story. Jazz and Vlad are back to good terms, after it is clear what the heck was going on, explained better by Danny with Jazz present. Sam and Tucker go on to finish their High school career. They end up breaking up over their different dietary choices. Danny is finally able to openly call Vlad his dad, and without any reservations.


	54. Bits and Pieces

AN:/ These are the few meaty chunks of the last chapters that I had brought myself to write. I couldn't really call these deleted scenes, because there wasn't anything for them to be deleted from. So I am calling these bits and pieces. The bits and pieces of halfway ideas of chapters, that have been floating around on my computer. Once again, unedited, some of it might not make any sense. You have been warned. I didn't even spell check it.

Line Break. Jazz's POV

I knew I shouldn't have left Danny to talk to Vlad alone. Of course I had thought they would be having a warm fuzzy moment, and I know how both Danny and Vlad are about preserving their manly pride or whatever, so I thought it would be better if I didn't tag along to play mediator. But of course something had gone horribly wrong, and now nobody would talk to me. Danny, or Vlad. I was being given the silent treatment on all sides because apparently, whatever happened when I wasn't there is all my fault.

Ever since Danny talked to Vlad and told him… well, _something._ Obviously things have been misinterpreted to cause this whole mess. But ever since Vlad and Danny had their little talk, the anxiety between the two is absolutely awful. Whatever is going on between the two is a hundred times worse than what was going on before.

Where before Danny had gone out of his way to avoid Vlad and try not to make eye contact, it seemed that now that was all that Danny wanted. Over the past three days he had trailed around after Vlad like a lost puppy, always looking for conversation, always looking for approval. He did everything in his power to get Vlad's attention. He stopped wearing converse and jeans all together and now constantly wears a button-down tucked in with dress pants and dress shoes. He comes down every morning with a tie and he looks to Vlad, almost begging with his eyes, before he asks if he's tied the knot the right way. Vlad only replys with a short 'Yes'. He comes home from school and he immediately does all of his homework before he goes to ask Vlad if he needs any help with anything. Vlad always says 'No.' He waits patiently for eight o'clock to roll around before he asks Vlad if he would help him train. Vlad always says 'Maybe tomorrow Daniel. I'm rather tired this evening.' Every morning, without fail, Danny asks about what Vlad is reading in the paper or some significant current event and Vlad cuts off conversation before it can even start.

.

.

.

As soon as we passed over Lake Michigan I let go of the plane and rocketed myself downward. I readjusted my trajectory based on where I knew Amity Park was located. Fighting against air resitance at the speed I was going was like trying to fight a way through a brick wall as a human. I did not go intangible to eliminate the resistance. I couldn't push myself this fast without the help of gravity. So I continued downward face first, continueing to realign myself as I got closer and closer. The wind screamed and howled in my ears, positively deafening. My hair was plastered to my skull. I saw the many plumes of black and white smoke as I got closer. The sight only made me pour on speed I didn't know I had left. There was a massive pressure on my ears and there was an impossibly loud BOOM, as I flew through a disk of white mist that had appeared out of nowhere, then it was silent. Utterly completely silent. Suddenly the ground was coming up to smack me in the face so quickly I didn't have time to slow down. Only by turning intangible and sinking through the ground was I able to avoid being splattered everywhere. It was completely dark and underground, my night vision would do nothing for me because there was nothing to see besides black earth. Only the feint rumblings of the surface could be heard. I came to a stop and re-oriented myself now shooting myself upward. In only a few seconds I was breaking through the surface where light and sound assaulted my senses. I came to an abrubt stop and lowered myself to the pavement, breathing heavily.

Ectoplasm pumped through my veins, making my head and neck throb. I slowly looked around. I had landed in the exact center of town. The Nasty Burger was across the street. City Hall was behind me as I stood in the middle. There was no traffic. A news van was parked outside city hall and was on the steps. I took no noctice of them though, as they realized the cause of the sonic boom they had heard seconds prior and were turning all of their camera's towards me. I paid no attention to that whatsoever. No, what was catching my attention were the screams.

The shrieks of pain and calls for help. Gun shots being fired off in the distance. Sirens and horns blaring everywhere. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds. I could hear cries for ambulances, pain wracked sobs. Children screaming for their parents. Parents trying desperately to locate their children. Law enforcement barking orders. Amity Park was falling apart.

I took a deep breath and centered myself before I expanded my ghost sense. Anger welled up inside of me as I felt ghost after ghost after ghost. I lost count of how many there were. All different power levels, all over the city. Some were fighting amongst themselves, some were lounging about dormant. In either instance it did not escape my notice that their prescense correlated with the sounds of screams sirens and explosions.

My eyes snapped open, blaring so brightly I was having trouble seeing past their glow. I didn't even have to think about it. I knew exactly what had to be done. I don't know how I knew what to do, but Vlad had said it was something you just knew how to do, like a bird knows how to build a nest.

I recentered myself and held my right hand out in front of me. My feet were positioned shoulder width apart. I reched inside of myself and located my core. I gentely caressed it and felt it pulse with pure unadulterated power. Slowly I siphoned off just a small amount of that power and concentrated on moving it to my hand. I didn't realize it but as soon as I had found my core and started manipulating it my aura had started to glow brighter and pulse. The news cameras had caught everything I had been doing so far, and more news vans were on the way, having been called to catch more of the action. I paid them no heed. I had a job to do.

I had only siphoned off an almost negligent amount of my core energy into my hand, a small enougha mount that I had trouble holding onto it. In my mind the power I held was no more than a bare whisp of what lay at my core, which in itself was the size of a basketball. But when I opened my eyes I had a glowing white ball easily the size of a beachball, and I could feel that this was an extremely condensed version of what I was truly holding. The power in my palm intoxicated me, giving me a high I had never expirenced before as it revolved in my palm, swirling around in a hypnotizing manner, like a small sun in my hand. I didn't have time to dwell on the beauty of what I was holding however. I was going to put it to good use.

Slowly, deliberately I raised the sphere of power above my head. As the sphere went higher, my eys glowed brighter. My breath became ragged as the euphoria of the power increased with every inch of height the sphere in my hand rose. Finally my arm was completely extended and my eyes were nearly crackling with energy, matching the sphere of excited power in my hand. I don't know where the words came from, but I somehow knew exactly what to say. My voice seemed to carry impossibly far. The deep smooth baritone I had only recently gained echoed eerily through all of Amity Park. The eerie tone of my voice alone sent several small children into fits of hysterics. Everyone heard my declaration. No one was safe.

"I Danny Phantom, born of the Realm of Death herself, claim this land upon earth as my own. All those within its borders submit to my complete rule. Intruders upon my land be gone, or suffer; for you shall be brought before my might if you contest my claim. So mote it be." I closed my eyes as the power in my hand silently exploded. A blast of cold rolled outward from my position for miles, covering all of Amity Park. A shockwave of my power blew over everyone and everything, seeping into the ground and laying my claim to the land and all within it. Ghosts who did not wish to fight me road the wave outward, while those that resisted were sucked towards me against their will.

The first to show up was Skulker, pulled from the Zoo he had laid claim to. I felt an intense irritation at his prescense. My lip drew up in a snarl, exposing my still overly sharp fangs. My voice was low in annoyance.

"Skuler, you idiot. I thought our last encounter would have taught you something about how wise it is to confront me." Skulker himself only adapted a look of apathy, though underneath it was obvious he was nervous.

"It is not in my nature to back down from a challenge." I growled and I extened my hand. I wrapped Skulkers armour in my energy and pulled him viscioulsy towards me. I caught him by the neck and popped off his head with my other hand. I dropped the rest of his body and reached into the head to pull out the little green ghost. The head too was thrown away and I brought the blob up to my face. I hissed through my fangs.

"Leave." Skulker squeaked before he phased through my hand and shot off into the distance like a bullet.

I suddenly recoiled as I felt the light touch of a hand creep up my back and I violently recoiled. Shooting in the general direction of where I had felt the threat. The limber shadow easily dodged my sloppy attack. I narrowed my eyes and waited for her to come back at me. I really hated Spectra.

"All this misery! I should have known you would be responsible. You wouldn't mind if I had a little snack would you? After all you left your town to fester into this delectable treat in the first place didn't you?" She shot towards me, her arms outstretched. Her claw-like fingers poised to dig into my flesh. I waited until the last moment to slide around her and levi a blast against the back of her head for good measure. I couldn't let her touch me, but I needed her within range so that I could fire enough blasts to truly weaken her.

"I think you could do without the extra snack, Spectra. Have you gained weight since we last fought?" Spectra growled and launched herself up at me from the ground.

"You little wretch!" I let her pass me by dodging at the last second again, though she was prepared for my ecto-blast this time and swerved. She seemed about to come at me again before she stopped and smirked. "Though I should suspect a comment like that from a freak who abandon their town to the whims of ghosts in the first place. You should have seen them Danny darling. The way the cried and hoped for their _hero _to save them. Why it was positively heart breaking. Even after the first death caused by a ghost attack, they still looked to the sky, as if you would show up to stop the next twenty three rather unfortunate _accidents_." Energy collected without my summoning at my fists. My voice was harsh as I felt heat build up behind my eyes. I didn't know! I really hadn't known!

"Shut the fuck up and get out of my city you leech!" I pelted the woman with as many ecto-blasts as I could manage. Throwing the green balls of destruction in second-intervals as fast as I could bring my hands back to my chest to thrust another blast forward. My initial blast, which was more powerful than those after it, moved to quickly for her to be able to dodge. It clipped her in the shoulder and that had distracted her. She continued to sustain more an more damage as she squirmed to try to get out of the line of fire. She wasn't successful. As my rage recceeded somewhat I was able to aim so that she couldn't maneuver herself towards any cover.

To the camera's on the ground I was a strobe of green as I fired ecto-blast after ecto-blast. Spectra had been pinned by my fire into a crater in the assfault. There was a loud thud-thud-thud-thud-thud as my blasts hit spectra and the pavement. Dirt kicked up like some kind of firework display and dust slowly rose into the air until I couldn't see what I was firing at anymore and my blasts madae the cloud of dust appear like a storm cloud filled with green lighting. I halted my blasts and waited for the dust to settle.

Spectra had vanished.

Only the loud whine of a horse caused me to turn around. I whipped my head around to watch Fright Knight dismount his horse. He stood on the pavement.

"Sir Phantom."

"Fright Knight." And that was all the warning I got. There was the heavy sound of metal scrapping against metal as The Fright Knight drew his sword out of its scabbard and it came swinging down towards me. A loud clang rang through the air as metal met pavment. I was only just able to move out fo the way in time. I flew up into the air where I would have the advantage. The Fright Knight moved the metal through the air at impossible speed and eh was on me again. Forcing me lower as I dodged, leaving me no time to power up a blast before my concentration was lost. He was faster than anything I had been up against in fencing class. I was only able to identify and anticipate half of his moves. I desperately dodged and retreated from everything else. I was forced lower and lower. Fright Knight was forcing me tot eh ground where he could pin me eyes widened when I felt the rough pavement scrap against the bottom of my boots. I glanced briefly downward in shock and that was all the distraction the fright knight needed.

He threw himself forward in a full body tackle and crashed into me using all of his body weight. The hard cold metal of his suit was bound to leave large purple bruises that would cover my rib cage. I thudded to the ground, unable to make any noise other than an whezy umph as all the air was forced from my lungs. The impact popped my eyes open and I got a full view of the glowing green sword swinging downward. Instinct and reflex had me sinking into the ground so fast it was as if I had simply vanished.

I continued to sink into the ground. The sudden lack of sight both made me more afraid and slightly calmed me. I floundered for a way to orient myself without shooting straight back out of the ground. Pauing briefly, I reached desperately for my ghost sense. Instantly I was aware that the Fright Knight had stayed above ground. Aware of his location, I continued to move cautiously away. I wondered for a moment why he hadn't followed when it clicked. The Fright Knight didn't have a ghost sense. He didn't have a clue where I was or how to find me when I was underground. The information calmed me. It allowed me a moment to plan. I started back toward the Fright Knight.

The ground was going to be the edge that I needed. I could drag him down with me and disorient him but even if I had my ghost sense it was still dangeroud for me. It wasn't like a second sight, I could just tell his location, not the details. The Fright Knight could flail his sword around and I would walk right into it. If I could just get the sword away from him. But there was no way I could just yank it out of his hand like I had with Bill, and ectoblasts would have little to no affect against his armour. If I could _make _a sword like Vlad I might have a chance but…

That's when I had a very stupid idea. I shot upwards towards the Fright Knight, hoping I came out of the ground opposite the direction he was facing. I focused and got an image in my head. I wouldn't have time to do this slowly, like in the training room.

I popped out of the ground and like an explosion noise and light assaulted me. I shot myself upward as I adjusted. I could feel the Fright Knight following me as I shot into the sky. I poured on the speed and focused, hard, on making solid energy in my hands in the small shape that I wanted. Clutching onto the three solid shapes as they fell into my palm, not even sparing a glance as I rolled over in flight to get a clear shot.

The crude but still sharp ninja stars made a weird echo-y 'pwing!' sound as they actually punctured and embedded themselves in the Fright Knight's chest. The stars contained enough condensed energy to send them screaming through the air. Too fast for the Fright Knight to block. I missed my target of the Fright Knight's hands though, and two of the knives hit his chest while the third glanced off his helmet. My attack caught the fright Knight off guard and caused him to pause in his pursuit, which put a condierable distance between us at the speed we were traveling.

The time it took for the Fright Knigth to take rip the stars out of his armour and catch up with me had given me enough time to make three more stars, paying more attention to accuracy so they would fly through the air straighter. The echo-y 'pwing!' sound came again as I threw the knives again. Only this time I hit my mark. Two of the stars hit the Firght Knights right hand while the other missed and hit his chest. The Fright knight let go of his sword with a shout of pain. Imedately he realized his mistake and with widened eyes he started downward towards his falling sword. I shot forward as fast as I could.

I might have weight significantly less, but my speed made up for it and ensured that knocked the Fright Knight off course. I poured on all of my speed and power in flight and forced the Fright Knight quickly away from his sword and streaing him into the ground. Quickly enough that he didn't have time to shove me off or retaliate. Phasing us both through the ground I pushed him donward and only after we were at least two hundred feet below the surface I let go. I looped away and focused on my ghost sense. The Fright Knight immediately started to move toward the surface, giving me a window of two or three seconds to strike. I didn't hesitate and shot towards the Fright Knight. At the last second I charged my hand with ecto-ice energy and slamed my fist into somewhere on the Fright Knights armour. The explosion caused the ground above us to jump with a loud rumble. Completley destroying the street and totaling three cars.

The unexpected impact of my blast caused the fright knight to loose his concentration enough and he regained tangibility in enough time to be buried underneath the tons of falling earth that mad ebeen displaced my my blast.

.

.

.

I woke with a gasp, straining towards an upward position, but being kept back by something. I felt like I was suffocating, like it wasn't possible for me to suck in enough air. I had to force myself to exhale when I continued to take in air even after my lungs were full to bursting. I let out a huge breath and relaxed against a hard metal surface, making me shiver, which was odd, because not much made me shiver anymore. The feel of metal against my back brought my attention to the fact that I was completely naked, save for a sheet that had been drapped over my waist to save what was left of my modesty. I felt an enourmous lump form in my throat at what that meant. That someone had seen fit to undress me. Someone had seen me without any clothes on at all, as it was increasingly clear I wasn't even wearing underwear. My nakedness made me extremely embrassed and panicked all at once. I felt violated and exposed in a way that was completely new to me, especially as I had no clue what was going on. The unfamiliarness of my surroundings brought my thoughts crashing back into reality. Where was I? It was dark, there was a feint green glow everywhere. I tried again to sit up only to be restrained by bands arching over my shoulders, wrists, waist, and ankles. I was laid out, as if I were some deceased person on display, my hands strapped to the table down by my sides, my shoulders strapped down, preventing me from sitting up.

I picked my head up to try to see what was holding my hands down. I caught a glimpse of some metal glowing bands bound to a glowing metal table. I flexed my hands by my sides expirimentaly. There was no give in the restraints. I could barely move. I couldn't so much as wiggle. I tried every possible move I could think of but I was completely restrained. There was even a band over my stomach to keep me from arching my back off of the table. I felt trapped and helpless. I noticed in my squirming that I was somehow still in my ghost form, but it didn't feel right. It felt forced somehow. cool edges of the metal bands containing me rubbed against my wrists, irritating them, making them raw the more I struggled. I tried going intangible but it made absolutely no difference. The metal around me would not accept intagability either. I was completely trapped.

I tried to pick my head up again but I could barely see over the peek of my chest. I tilted my head back but I didn't get very far. My hair flipped painfully into my eyes and I was made to thrash my head so that I could get it out, not being able to remove the sting with my hands. I finaly managed to flip it out of my face, but my eyes were already clouded with tears of irritation. I suddenly felt something slidding over me and I realized very quickly that my only means of modesty was starting to slip off of me. I waved my fingers around frantically trying to grab the white sheet. I caught the end of it just before the weight of the other end could carry it to the floor. I tugged the white fabric and tucked it under my butt. Before grabbing more of the fabric and pulling it over a little bit, and then tucking that underneath me and so on. Until nearly all of the sheet was on the table and tucked under me on both sides. I relaxed against the table again, my modesty saved at least for the moment.

It was very clear I was getting nowhere, at least in Ghost form. I debated changing back to my human form, maybe then I would have clothes, but I had no clue where I was. I didn't know who was here or what was watching me. I might still have a secret to protect if I had stayed ghost this long. What had happened again? I remember being sourrounded, completely surrounded and weak, I had used my wail in my desperation. Then that was it. I had felt some sort of irrisistable force pull at me, at my exhausted form, it had been familiar somehow so I hadn't resisted. I had recognized it so I let it take me as I fell unconscious.

I swallowed down my fear at facing the unkown.


	55. Deleted Scenes

AN:/ At one point, I think it was around the chapters in the thirties, I realized that I was often deleting large chunks of chapters when I wanted to refine my ideas or change the plot. These chunks were honestly thousands of words long. Eventually, I gained enough followers and enough people showed interest that I figured I could save those chunks, and put them at the end of the story, like out takes, and people would appreciate that. So that's what these are. These are the deleted scenes of RTTEA. Once again, completely uneditied. Not even run through spell check. You all can guess where these scenes were originally in the story. some of them aren't even in the continuity of the story anymore, because I changed the plot so much that they just didn't fit anymore. But some of them are fun. and I like them. So here they are. enjoy over 30,000 words of deleted scenes.

DELETED SCENE #1

"Daniel, however, is special in regards to how much of my…assisants… he is allowed. For reasons that will be explained to you by Daniel later, Daniel is my responsibility." Instantly a swell of protectiveness, jealously, and sadness swamped my chest. What? How? Why? Daniel is _my _responsibility. I was supposed to take care of him. Not this Clockwork! He was mine! My son! I jumped when I felt a heavy hand settle onto my shoulder. Somehow I did not feel the need to shrug it off or become defensive. It was like the touch was infused with calm and I could do nothing but succumb to its gestures of docility, like a drug had been infused into my system. I looked into the Time Ghost's eyes and the feeling only increased. "I am responsible for Daniel's destiny. Because I inerfered not long ago, to save him and the universe from a terrible fate, I have been tasked with ensuring he follows the correct paths in his life. I do not play or fufill the role in his life you think I do. I am merely responsible for ensuring his life remains balanced. It is because of this that I am allowed to give Daniel more advice than would otherwise be allowed. It is because of this that I am more direct with Daniel than I have been with anyone in several mellenia. If you must put me in a familial role of some sort, I am nothing more than the grandfather he comes to when he wants to get away from his troubles, and be spoiled like a child. Daniel uses me as a haven from his problems when they start to overwhelm him. I do not solve them, or make them go away. I merely give him perspective and time to collect himself. You should know this from what you have read in Daniel's journal. Do I care for Daniel? Yes. Am I a father figure to the boy? No." The hand was removed from my shoulder and I felt some of my indignace come back before I grudging understanding took over. Very well. I knew, I suppose, that Daniel didn't see this Clockwork as anything more than what was already described. I had already summarized from Daniel's Journal that if anything, Clockwork was viewed in a somewhat 'godly' capacity and whose council was a 'last resort'. I would simply give Daniel no reason to have to come to the ghost with his problems. Clockwork smirked before he turned his attention back over to the telivison like devices that lined the wall. He didn't spare me a glance as he continued to talk. He spun his scythe, which he had been carrying idly for the past minutes, and suddenly it turned into some sort of scepter with a clock at the top.

"Now I believe I promised you my help in finding a certain ghost powered young man?" Instantly I completely focused on the ghost once more.

"Yes. Where is he?" Clockwork smirked before he clicked the button on the top of his scepter. I jumped back as Daniel abrubtly became visible beside the Time Ghost. Not really regiastaring anything else I lunged for the image and captured him in my arms, squeezing as hard as I could. When my arms didn't phase though the image and I could really grasp onto him I nearly sobbed with relief. Daniel, this was really Daniel. He was safe. He wasn't being systematically deconstructed molecule by molecule, or held for randsom or being tortured. I let up slightly when he started to struggle, coming to the conclusion that I was gripping to hard, but I was further confused when he pryed himself away completely. He flung himself away from me and sprung into the air. His fists were alight and he was glaring at me like he would before he had come to live with me. The look hurt something deep in my chest and my eyes became saddened and confused. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when Daniel spat the answer at me.

"You read my j~ournal!" I was torn several different directions. Relief was still gripping my chest while guilt and confusin were becoming more and more prominate. Had his voice just cracked? Was something wrong with his throat? Were those…fangs? I was sorry for causing him distress by breaching his privacy, but I had just _had_ to know. With that journal I had been able to be so much better for the boy, couldn't he realize that? All I wanted then and now was to make sure Daniel was safe. I didn't want Daniel to be up in the air and looking at me like that. I wanted him in my arms where I could protect him and take him home. The hurt and betrayed look in Daniel's eyes ripped through my soul as he seemingly waited for my confirmation. I couldn't bring myself to lie.

"Yes." He growled and his eyes flared. Before I could get a word in edgewise he was screaming at me firring ecto-blasts sloppily towards me. I easily erected a shield to stop them.

"You conni~ving little bastard! How lo~ng? When did you read it? How long have you h~ad it?" He broke in his baragge allowing me time to answer. I was silent, not wanting to admit the truth as I knew it would only destroy his trust in me further. I wanted things to go back to the way they were before and my admitting anything was not going to move me towards that goal. That had been proven very clearly already. When it seemed I had taken too long he sent an enourmous ecto-blast at me pushing me back several feet.

"HOW LONG YOU S~ICK BASTARD!" the room was silent besides Daniel's heavy breathing. I could see the hurt in Daniel's face, the tears starting to form in his eyes, the scene tinted red through my shield. Daniel's obvious pain tore at something deep in my chest that I previously didn't know was there.

"Since the third day you had come to stay with me." The barrage on my shield started again. Ice and ecto energy hit it in equal measure. Daniel's voice rang through the tall tower like structure. His voice was hoarse and obviously under a great deal of strain. It cracked like fine china on a stone floor every few moments, though he didn't allow that to deter him in the least.

"WHAT! The whole fu~cking time! AUGHH! I trusted you! After everything that happened to me I th~ought you would _understand_. I thought you would _care_ for me. I thought you act~ually _cared_! How stupid was I huh Vladie? My family and friends had ju~st betrayed me the worst way they could so I'd figure I'd give my arch en~emy a shot, you know just for kicks and giggles! I can't b~elieve I was so niave! You are just as much of a manipula~tive little fruitloop as you were two years ago!" Finally my shield broke, Daniel, however did not stop. I couldn't bring myself to fight back as he hit me with blast after blast. I let him hit me, perhaps if he hurt me he could escape some of the pain he was feeling. At least I could provide him that. I had long ago been shoved up against the wall. He hated me again. Daniel hated me. There was something in me that died with that thought. His aim was mediocre at best as he blindly fired at me, the cause of all of his strife. Daniel continued to rant and hit me with all he had.

"Do you know w~hat was in there Vlad? Do you? Those were my dee~pest fears! My greatest hopes! And you read all of i~t so that you could _play me_ like a piano! Oh I b~et it was easy enough to get on my good side once you had your hands on that information wasn't it Frui~tloop? And after I was already so bro~ken and depressed! How much of it was an a~ct _V-man_? How many times did you manipulate me so that I would _tr~ust you? _How many of my _weaknesses_ did you use to your advan~tage? How much of _this_ was a lie? After I came to you, af~ter I trusted you. I tr~usted you, you sick asshole!" Daniel's blasts got weaker and weaker until finally he was breathing heavily and he collapsed into a heap on the floor. The sob was evident in his voice and he sniffed loudly. He was on his side on the floor. Holding his head.

"I trusted you. I thought you actually cared. I thought you really understood. But it was all just an act. Just a ploy to get me to be at your side. You don't really care… Nobody really cares about a twisted little freak like me." I was breathing heavily as well. I had several cuts and burns from various attacks. My chest was bound to be bruised all colors of the rainbow come tomorrow morning. My lip was bleeding and I could feel the beginings of a tender black eye. Though I couldn't' bring myself to care abut my own physical state. Those things Daniel had said, they weren't true, they just weren't. I had read his journal yes, but not to _manipulate_ him. True, that might have been the case at one point, but that was not my intention when I had stolen the object now. I wasn't _acting _in my feelings for the boy. None of the things I did were a trick. I only wanted to understand. I only wanted to help. And surely he didn't _still_ think so lowly of himself? I laid there against the wall in a broken heap and watched as Daniel silently cried. I watched as his shoulders shook and his head bobbed. His hand was disappear every once in a while as he went to scrub at his face. I could take it no longer. Someone had to be there for the boy, I had to make him understand.

My back cracked and popped as I went to stand up, only to fall once I was completely upward. My ankle had been twisted and I had not anticipated the pain. The thud of my fall caught Daniel's attention and his head snapped to meet my gaze. He watched me like a hawk, perhaps expecting me to finally retaliate, as I stood back up and slowly limped towards him. He did nothing about my approach, he simply stared. Finally I was beside him. I kicked my leg out in front of me and slowly lowed myself to the ground by his head. When it was clear in this action that I was not going to hurt him Danile went to burry his head in his chest and arms once more. I panted slightly as I rested from my trek. I had trained him well, he could certainly pack a punch. My hand hovered over his ebony tresses as I debated resting my hand on his head. I finally lowered my hand back to my own side. No, Daniel would not accept such a display from me now. Finally I caught my breath enough to be able to hold decent converstation.

"Daniel, none of our relationship was an act." He snorted and curled in further on himself. My eyebrows creased in sadness. I was going to convince this boy that I cared for him if it was the last thing I did. I couldn't live without Daniel. Not now after I had had him.

"It's true you know. I was never faking anything. The only thing I gleaned from your journal that I used to my advantage was the fact that you missed eating meals with your family. It was why I was always so insistant that you eat breakfast and Dinner with me, and lunch on weekends. I thought maybe you'd appreciate the company. To tell the truth I probably appreciated the company more than you did, especially in the mornings." I smirked down at the boy but he did not look up at me, my smirk turned to a frown.

"Daniel I am sorry that I breeched your privacy, but I do not regret what I did. I read that journal because I thought it was the only way I would be able to properly take care of you. I wanted to help you. I wanted to know what you liked and what you didn't like. I wanted to know what you thought of me. I wanted to know you. You and I both know that when you first came to live with me you would not have opened up so easily. How else was I supposed to have gotten the information I needed to take care of you?" the boy growled and his head snapped up to meet my gaze. His eyes blared.

"You could have gotten to know me, like a regular person. You could have _asked _me. But you didn't, you went behind my back and decided that you'd dig up all my secrets without my permsion. How could what you read _not_ have influenced how you dealt with me; how you acted around me? You _used_ the information to make sure that I would 'like' you, so that I would never leave. I was just another puppet to manipulate wasn't I?" I felt a lump form in my throat. How could the boy say that? I had read his journal, yes, but plenty of parents had done so over the years. Surely this wasn't grounds to dismiss all trust the boy had in me. I opened my mouth to plead my case once more only to be beaten to the punch. There was a note of hysteria in his voice.

"Nope, it was the same as always with you. The difference was that this time I fell for it. I fell for your stupid games and traps. I was just a toy for you to play with. You had me in your clutches Vlad, you really did. But I'm disposable, I'm replaceable, I'm just an attainable _thing_. But you didn't actually care about _me_ did you? You didn't care- umph!" I reached over faster than the boy could retailaate and clutched him painfully to my still throbbing chest. His head was buried against my chest and shoulders, preventing him from speaking further. He wiggled awkwardly to escape or at least make himself comfortable in my iorn grip but I would not let up. I would not let the boy say these things! They were not true. How could he think that? Hadn't I shown him how much I cared for him? Where was he getting these ideas?

"You insipid, puerile, thick-headed, idiot. Don't you _dare_ say I don't care about you. When am I going to get it through your thick-skull that you are the _only thing _I care about anymore? Damit all Daniel, I _love_ you! You are the son I never had, you are the family I always wanted, you are the center of my world. You give me a reason to continue my pitiful existence Daniel. Nothing matters more to me than you. _Absolutely nothing_." I held him like that against my chest until the pain of squezzing Daniel against my recently bruised ribs became too much. I had to loosen my grip with a painful gasp of air to keep from becoming light headed and passing out. Daniel awkwardly pushed on my chest and scooted away, causing me to wince and hiss one more. I was reduced to propping myself up with my arms as Daniel sat on his knees before me. He looked lost and confused and I wished I had the strength or the words to make that look go away. How could he still look at me like that? Didn't he understand? I had spelled it out for the boy. What else did I need to say? He opened and closed his mouth a few times, glancing away.

"V-Vlad, you can't...my journal…" I groaned and glared at the stuborn teen. The pain I was in doing nothing for my patients.

"Daniel is that truly such horrible offense as to condem me to absolute vilany? You are not the first teenager to have their diary stolen Daniel. Not by a long shot. And just like all of the other parents who have ever read their children's diaries, I too did it because I wanted to get to know you better; to know if there was anything you weren't telling me that I _should_ know about. Honestly the damn thing was more trouble than it was worth. I learned more from spying on your every move than I did from that little black book." There was a tickle at the back of my throat and I coughed lightly to satisfy it. I tasted a touch of copper in my mouth but I swallowed it so that Daniel would not see it and worry. Daniel continued to stare at me with those giant goldfish eyes. His voice was tiny and awkward when he finally did speak.

"Vlad, you… you are~n't my _father_ Vlad." The words hit me like a physical blow. My lungs seemed to twist into knots making it impossible to breathe. A giant lump in my throat made it extremely difficult to swallow. My stomach dropped straight through the floor. My eyes bugged out before I shut them tightly. I was suddenly convulsing with the need to cough but unable to take in air enough to do so. My shaking hands came up to clutch my throat. Subequently the support my arms were giving me were taken away and my back conncected with the floor. The sudden impact allowed me to draw in a short breath but that was quickly exhaled in a violent cough that had blood slpattered all over my gloves and chest. Something was pounding on my back urging me to breathe.

"Vlad! Vlad breathe damit!" there was a strike on between my shoulder blades and suddenly I was sucking in air, exhaling in loud coughs. Pressure formed behind my eyes with the intensity of my heaves. As I was able to focus again beyond the fact that I was suffocating I realized that something was very obviously crying and trying not to show it while doing its best to wrap its arms around me from my position on the floor. I saw a white glove and belatedly realized that it was Daniel.

"I'm sorry Vlad! I'm so sorry but I can't! I just can't. Not now. I can't do it now. You and Jazz are all I have left and I am so thankful that you took me in but I just… You aren't. I know you care, and that you, you…You've done everything for me that one should but I just… I don't know! You are everything else for me but not… I can't… I just…I don't…I'm sorry!" I felt the boy collapse slightly against me and his loud attempts at not crying picked up. I moved the arm that was resting aginst the floor and blindly grabbed for Daniel's hand. I found the white glove and gave it a viscious squeeze. The pain of Daniel's declaration was pushed to the back of my mind as I focused on making Daniel cease his distress. He was never supposed to feel such emotions.

"That's never really stopped me from thinking of you as a son (_cough_) before now has it?" Daniel squeezed my hand back before he mumbled against my back.

"Vlad I'm-"

"going to cease your mindless blather and let me talk? Why how convieniet!" Daniel was shifting again. I felt his weight move from beside me and he suddenly came into view before me. He awkwardly sat back down on the floor as I propped myself up on my hands once more. I would not hold a conversation while I was completely horizontal. I had some dignity. Daniel opened his mouth again.

"Vlad-"

"Let me put it in simple terms for you. Shut. Up." He cast his gaze to the floor in shame. I saw a blush rise to his cheeks. I exhaled heavily, I would not let the pain of the boy's statement color my response. I would not push him away. Not now.

"Daniel regardless of how you feel about our relationship, it will not stop me from seeing you as a son. As _my_ son. It never has, and it never will. I apparently made a mistake in thinking that you had come to view me in that regard so I did not censor myself as I usualy do. I thought we had come to an understanding of sorts, the easy report we had with one another especially was giving me those signals. I was wrong. It does not matter though, because I will continue to view you as a son. Nothing you will do will ever change that, especially after I have gotten to know you these last weeks, after you put some of your trust in me. In my eyes, you are my son, and the fact that you do not view me as a father in return greatly saddens me, but it does not change my views. I already went over this Daniel. You are my world. I will always do everything in my power to protect you and help you. I can only hope that one day you will come to see things my way. I can only hope that one day you will let me be the father figure for you. Regardless I will always be there for you, whether you like it or not." I wanted to grab the boy in my arms again as he stared at me with those sad puppy dog eyes. I wanted to let him know it was okay. Of course I was devastated that Daniel _still_ did not think of me in that light but I had been dealing with that fact for years now. Surely I could wait a little longer before I swayed him to my side of things. He had said that I was everything else for him, it was a small matter of taking that last step towards being declared a father to the boy. I had put words in the boy's mouth and now I was paying for it. I would have my day though. Evenutally, eventually the boy would come to see things my way. Daniel just continued to stare at me with those thrice be damned eyes before his attention was diverted to something above me. Whatever it was caused his cheeks to blush a very deep shade of red. I was given the merc of not having to twost around as the voice behind me identified what had caught Daniel's attention.

"I'm afraid we have one more thing to disscuss. Though we shall move to the sitting area to do so. I imagine the floor is not as desirable a seating option for you both at this point?" Daniel looked pleadingly above my head at the Time Ghost.

"Clockwork please. Can't we do this another day? We've already kind of been through an ordeal here." Daniel seemed to shrink on himself slightly as Clockwork responded and I wished dearly that I had the energy to turn around and glare at Clockwork for making Daniel so uncomfortable. Clockwork replied with a scolding tone in his voice.

"No, this must be done now. I have held this off for as long as I could Danny. It will not be as horrible as you imagine. Come." Daniel quickly stood up without question to follow Clockwork. I attempted to bring myself to my feet. I got half way there before I was about to collapse again in exhaustion. Daniel was quickly there at my side to help, always the hero. I smiled greatfully at the teen before we limped over to the couches. Thankfully they weren't too far, and they were absolute bliss on my back as I sank into them. After reveling in the comfort of the cushions for a moment I opened my eyes to see Clockwork floating behind Daniel who was seated on the couch oppiste of mine. I looked from the Time Ghost to Daniel.

"Very well, what is it that needs discussing?" Daniel squirmed in his seat and looked pleadingly, almost terrified up at the specter behind him. Clockwork merely shook his head. Daniel's own head dropped and his gaze sunk to the floor, still hesitant. Several times he opened his mouth as if he were about to say something before he would choke up in nerves and go back to staring at his shoes. I became worried at what on earth was making the boy so anxious when an idea struck me.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain 'Him' would it?" Daniel's eyes shot up to meet mine. He stuttered.

"Y-You know?" I raised my eyebrows and began to sigh only to stop at the pain it caused my ribs.

"If we are in fact referring to the always non-discript pronoun you used in your journal then yes, I do know a bit." Daniel became both relived and nervous in the same breath.

"Yeah, how much do you know?" I looked curiously between Daniel and Clockwork. One was smirking while the other was waiting with baited breath.

"From what I could summarize 'He'did something extremely terrible and it was Daniel's task to stop him. Clockwork somehow saved Daniel while he was stopping 'Him' therefore the beginning of Daniel's relationship with Clockwork. However, 'He' is not gone, merely stoped or captured, so 'He' is still a constant threat. Am I missing anything?" I looked between Daniel and Clockwork again as Daniel once more looked to Clockwork with a pleading gaze. Clockwork merely gave Daniel a hard glare. He then turned and sighed before looking back to me. He hesitatntly started to explain.

"You got the most of it. It all started when I cheated on my C.A.T's and a freak accident caused by overheated Nasty Sauce caused my family, my teacher, and my friends to die in an explosion. With no one left, I was sent to you so you could take care of me. I steadily became more and more depressed until I couldn't take it anymore and I asked you to rip out my ghost half." I sat there open mouthed. What in heavens name? I was about to speak up and ask Daniel to explain a few things when I was glared at by Clockwork. That very quickly convinced me to shut my mouth. Daniel was mostly lost in his thoughts so he didn't notice anything. "So you ripped out my ghost half successfully, the problem was that my ghost half was not very happy. It decided to then rip out your ghost half. Our halves merged together and created the most powerful evil ghost to ever walk the earth or the Ghost Zone. 'He' was created and he destroyed everything in both demensions.

So to prevent this Clockwork was tasked with executing me so that that evil alternate future would never happen. He sent ghosts from the future to try and stop me. After I had defeated them all I was brought back to Clockworks lair when I was tangled in a ghost's wreckage that was due to be sent back to it's time. There I met Clockwork and he tried to kill me with his scythe. The only way out was to go to the future, with my evil alternate future self. We fought and he won. I had to be kept alive though because for him to exist I had to exist. So he fused a time medallion to my ghost core so that I would stay in the past while he went back to the future and made sure that our family and friends died.

He tied me up and threw me into the Ghost Zone where I met up with several of the ghosts he had beaten and disfigured. They were going to beat me up and kill me so in shear desperation I discovered and used my Ghostly Wail for the first time. I was then promptly hit in the head with a the Booo-merang and it had a note attached to it from Jazz who had discovered about my evil future self and sent a not to me from the past. It said to go to the future you who was hiding in a secret bunker somewhere. So I went and met the future you who was old, hadn't shaved or bathed in years and had the full weight of all of his previous actions on his shoulders. There he used the same procedure that had creaed the evil alternate version of myself and took out the time medallion so that I could return to my own time.

Back in my own time I discovered Dan had straped everyone to an already overheating vat of Nasty Sauce and was waiting for them to die. I fought my evil future self, again, and won but only barely. I had been changed to my human half and by the time I captured 'Him' the vat of sauce was set to blow anyway. I ran towards them as fast as I could bu there was no way I was going to get to them in time. That's when Clockwork showed up and freed everyone and let me go back in time to stop from cheating on the C.A.T's so that none of that would ever happen." I simply sat there my eyes wide open as my brain tried desperately to come to terms with all of this new information. I _ripped out _his ghost half? A vat of _Nasty Sauce_? Daniel had dealt with all of this? All of this alternate time-line business. But he'd met me, in the future, and I hadn't bathed in _years_? It was difficult to wrap my head around. But none of it had happened anyway had it? And this Clockwork had saved Daniel, even though he was supposed to execute him?

"Vlad are you-" I held up my hand impatiently like a parent on the phone telling their child to be quite. How was I not informed of this? I was half of this creature, if I was correct. But then what was Daniel so afraid of if he never really existed in the first place? It was unthinkable that I would ever do anything so vulgar as to _rip out _Daniel's ghost half. That was compeltey obsurd! It woud create an two emotionally unstable beings not cure depression! What on earth was I thinking? How idiotic! I looked back between Daniel and Clockwork.

"So if I understand correctly, then because Daniel cheated on a test, everyone dies, he becomes depressed, eventually I rip out his ghost half, who rips out my ghost half, and they combine to create 'Him' who destroy's the world as we know it. Is that what Daniel always talks about preventing in his journal?" I look to Clockwork who smirks widly and gives me a single nod. I then look to Daniel and he blushes but manages to mumble out a "Yes."

I let out a deep sigh, despite the pain it caused my ribs. I was very much ready to be done for the day.

"Fine, may we please be heading back home?" Daniel's mouth droped while Clockwork nodded and moved towards his wall of television like devices.

"But-But you can't… That's it?" my gaze wandered tiredly back to Daniel.

"Yes Daniel that's it. You are not going to become evil and destroy the world. I'm not worried about it in the slightest and I have no idea why you are. You do not have a malicious bone in your body. Quite frankly _ripping out your ghost half_ has to be one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard, and now that I know the potential consequences there is next to no chance that that will ever happen. You're not going to become evil, I'm not going to rip out your ghost half, and Clockwork is more than capable of stoping either of us if it becomes necessary. Now please, can we let this drop so that I may go to my room and obtain some asprin." I heaved myself off of the sofa and had to pause before I started make my way towards Clockwork. I stumbled and there was a distressed half ghost teen at my side in a flash. I shot the boy a greatful look. I would be taking some medicine before the night was out so my healing would accelerate and I would be well by the moring.

"Vlad, I don't think you understand-"

"I am not an idiot Daniel. I understand perfectly. But I am not going to waste my time and energy fretting over something that must have had a one and a million chance of coming to fruition in the first place. It's simply not worth my time, or yours for that matter. I understand why this would distress you and you may address your concerns with me, after I have had time to rest and heal myself. Now kindly shut up." We shuffled over to Clockwork's side, Daniel a violent shade of red and myself exasperated and exhausted. Clockwork Gestured to the largest of the televisions.

"These are my viewing portals. I can bring up images of anything, anywhere, anywhen, and view them at my leisure. They also serve as access points into whenever or where ever I am observing. To go home you must simply go through this portal. If you ever find yourself in need of me again, find a completely isolated section of the Ghost Zone and ask, politely, for entrance to the tower. I will hear you and create a portal directly here for you to enter. If I am unavalible or unable to see you at the moment, no portal will appear, otherwise there should be no problems."Clockwork looked from me to Daniel before a wide smirk played over his face. "It was… a pleasure. I will see you again in time." I nodded with a quick "goodbye" and stepped through the 'viewing portal'. I came out the other side and into my room beside my bed. I did not hesitate to transform and collapse onto the matress. I hissed unwittingly as the pressure from the fall caused my ribs undue pain. There was a voice behind me.

"Vlad, I'm sorry. It's my fault your hurt in the first place… is there anything I can do?" I turned my head to the side so I could speak.

"Daniel."

"Yes."

"Just let me sleep."

DELETED SCENE #2

"Oh come now Jasmine, you must admit this is a rather formidable automobile." I sighed and nodded my head. All this talk about cars was making me think about my poor little car and it was a rather depressing thought. I didn't know what I was going to about transportation without it.

"Yeah, It's nice." That was an understatement. The car was amazing. I could barely tell we were moving the suspension was so good, and it was a very comfortable ride. It looked like Vlad was having an effortless time handling it. It was an amazing car. I really wish I had a car like this, even just a car that I knew was going to work when I turned the key would be great really. I was too busy carefully examining every feature of the car from the radio to the cupholders, consumed in envy, to see the plots unfolding behind Vlad's eyes.

"Nice? I dare say you've lost perspective on what a proper vehical should do, driving that lawn ornament around, if you merely think it's 'nice', or can you think of no better adjective?" I glared a little bit. There was the Vlad I knew, rubbing in the fact that I probably didn't have a car anymore and then insulting my intelligence. The car might have been a piece of crap, but it was _my _piece of crap. And without my piece of crap I was in a serious delemia. Then Vlad had to go and throw that adjective barb in there. I wasn't going to rise to the bait though. That was Danny's style, not mine. I merely shrugged instead not saying anything. Vlad frowned at my reaction and I smirked inwardly at foiling his plans. That's right Vlad I'm not Danny, am I? Vlad opened his mouth again and I mentaly braced myself. I wasn't going to cave.

"You can't seriously have grown attached to the monstrosity? It was on its last leg well before you could have made use of it. It was a mercy to _all_ of us that it finally gave out. Who knows what kind of danger hazard it was on the road? It was more hassle than it was worth to you. You'll do much better without it I'm sure. Who would want to drive that death trap around in the first place? You'd almost have to be scuicidal. Did the car have a color? I couldn't tell with all of the rust. It looked like it had some sort of disease. No this is a good thing. Was the car even legally road worthy? When was the last time you had it checked out? It can't have been recently because no sane mechanic would have-"

"Okay! I get it! My car sucked!" My face was flushed as I finally lost it. "But you know what, it did what a car is supposed to do! It got me from point A to point B. And with out the stupid piece of ancient machinery I don't have a way to get around, _at all. _I don't have the money to repair it, or buy a new one so I'm pretty screwed at this point and I would appreciate it if you would quit insinuating that everything is under control because it's not!" While I sulked and pointedly turned away from Vlad he continued as if I had not just had a temper tantrum like a five year old. Fake sympathy ozzed out of his voice.

"Oh Jasmine, I wasn't aware you did not posses the funds to repair your car. All you had to do was say something. Simply give me the name of the mechanic and I will take care of it." My face turned serious as I turned back to Vlad.

"Don't joke with me about this Vlad, please." Vlad just continued to smirk.

"Why on earth would you think I was jesting? Are you under the impression that I would hand out money to complete stangers but not my _favorite niece_? Why Jasmine, I'm appalled. Now tell Uncle Vlad the name of the mechanic and he'll take care of everything." I turned and angled myself against the window again. Stupid fruitloop, why was I here again? I couldn't help it if I was poor and my car was trash. Besides I didn't even remember what mechanic the car was going to.

My eyes got wide. Oh crap.

"Vlad we have to turn around." Vlad's smirk if at all possible, got wider.

"You don't remember the name of the mechanic do you?" I just continued to glare, which seemed enough for Vlad who continued in a very fake scolding tone. "Jasmine I'm disappointed in you. Did you not even think about writing it down? This is a very disasterous oversight. We certainly aren't turning around. I'm not wasting even more of my precious time." Vlad let out an extremely overdramatic sigh, "I'm afraid I'll just have to buy you an entirely new car then." At this my eyebrows shot up. Why would he say something like that? He couldn't be serious.

"Vlad what the heck are you talking about?" Vlad adapted a confused expression.

"Why, I'm talking about purchasing you a new car Jasmine, do you need hearing aids as well?" I ignored the hearing aid comment.

"Vlad, are you being serious right now."

DELETED SCENE #3

"_That's really cool Danny, I never would have thought mix your ice and ecto energy like that. I thought they were mostly incompatible. They look kind of pretty mxed like that, actually. Can you hold one, like you're regular ecto blasts, so I can see it better?" I had carried Jazz up into the training room and she was staning next to Vlad while I demonstrated some of my other stuff. I looked to Vlad and he only raised an eyebrow at me so I shrugged and glided towards Jazz while concentrating on a blast in my hand. The sphere of green and blue came pretty easily to my hand now, though it definitely required way more concentration than just a regular blast of either ice or ectoplasam. I held my hand out and knowing Jazz would know better than to touch it. Suddenly she snorted and let out a small laugh. Me and Vlad both raised an eyebrow at the same time which caused Jazz to laugh again. Vlad opened his mouth before I could say anything._

"_And what pray tell, is so amusing about Daniel holding a blast in his hand that could quite possibley decapitate you?" Jazz raised her eyebrow at Vlad in a way that said 'was that supposed to be scarry?' before she responded._

"_You really want to know my thought process with this one?" I snorted and the ice-ecto-blast in my hand brightened in response._

"_Jazz I don't think Vlad ever would want to know your weird and unrelated thought processes. I think their funny though, so you can tell us anyway." I smirked and switched the blast from one had to the other, a little frost crinckled off of my glove and fell to the floor but I didn't' really notice. Jazz just smiled and shrugged. _

"_Did either of you realize that Danny's blast looks a lot like a little world?" Me and vlad's eyebrows shot up and we both looked to the blast in my hand and watched as the energy swirled around the globe in my hand. I guess it did kind of look like a little earth. That one blob of green kind of did look like Australia. Jazz continued without waiting to get me or Vlad's attention again. "Right so I was like, wow, it's like he's got a whole world in his hand. You know, just like a certain space programmer turned astronaut we know?" I was lost for a minute until Jazz started singing under her breath._

"_He's got the whooole, world. In his hand._

_He's got the whoooole, world. In his hand. _

_He's got the whoooole, world. In his hand._

_He's go the whole world in his hand." _

_At that point I got it and let out a snort and let the blast I had been holding dissolve. Before I could comment on the fact that we hadn't seen that movie in years Vlad beat me to the punch._

"_What in the blue blazes does a children's gospel hymn have to do Daniel's combine ecto blast, or any person on a any sort of extra terrestrial expedition?" The smiles abrubtly droped off of mine and Jazz's faces as we looked at Vlad in confussion. I opened my mouth._

"_What the heck are you talking about Vlad?" Vlad rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. _

"_Well that is what Jasmine was singing. I myself was made to sing the blasted thing for years as a child until I was old enough to go to adult services at the church we attended." Vlad looked at us, daring us to commet about the fact that he had been forced to sing these kinds of songs as a child. I smirked at the image of Vlad singing children's songs as a little kid. While I was focused on containg my laughter at the laughable idea, Jazz's face had dropped, completely taken off guard by the fact that Vlad had been a kid who sung at church once. I was still confused about what Vlad was talking about with the song. I'd never heard of it beign a kids song, other than in RocketMan, a movie me and Jazz were obsessed with when we were younger. Jazz opened he mouth before I could._

"_Vlad, we were making a reference to RocketMan. It's a Disney movie we watched a lot when we were kids. There is this one part in the movie where the main character breaks out into song after placing his hands up in front of him so that it looks like he's holding the earth, and on live international television he starts to sing "He's got the whole world in his hands" in like, ten different languages. It was one of our favorite parts of the movie. That's why I laughed, because it looks like Danny is holding a world, like in the movie." Vlad looked to me for conformation of what Jazz had said. His shoulders had sagged a bit, but his arms were still crossed. I smirked at Vlad and the fact that he was out of the loop for once._

"_Yup Vlad, we were just talking about a kids movie from the ninties. The image of you in a little choir dress singing the song from RocketMan is appreciated through!" I couldn't hold back a chuckle at the growl that came from Vlad._

DELETED SCENE #4

Green fire was everywhere. Licking at my heels no matter how fast or far away I ran. I had been running from it for a long time now. I can't remember how long, but I was far past the point of exhaustion. I didn't pass out though. I had tried to before, hoping to cling to the blissful ignorance that unconsciousness would grant me. In an attempt to finally rest I had let the flames overtake me, desperate for a chance to rest, to be free of the pain and exhaustion. The flames did nothing but hurt me however; even once I was far past the point where I should have passed out form the agony. I did not. A privilege such as unconsciousness could not be granted to me. I was always running from the flames; always keeping them just far enough away. It was my destiny, to forever run from these flames. I was all alone, forever. Forever I was going to run from my impending anguish, and in the process, complete and utter exhaustion would only be inflicting on me what the flames would have anyway.

"_Help me!"_

I screeched to a halt and looked wildly around for the voice that had pleaded for a savior. The flames now kept their distance from me. Not continuing on their way to consume me like they had before. The fact completely blew over my head though. I was only aware of the voice. I knew that voice and I would do anything to protect its owner. She was the owner of one of five voices I would never hesitate to answer. I had dedicated my life to protecting this voice as well as the others.

"_Stop, please!" _

Without an ounce of hesitation I now charged straight at the flames I had been running from for so long. I had to save her. I had to, there was no other option. It was my destiny.

Overwhelming pain engulfed me as I charged straight into the towering green flames. I could feel the water in my eyes evaporating from the heat. My hazmat was gone in seconds, lost to the toxic flame. The tall tendrils of fire whipped across my flesh, leaving gashes along with burns. My skin was slowly smoldering to a crisp I could feel the flames take root on my exposed flesh; like leeches they rooted themselves to my skin so that I could not escape their agony. I was terrified. but I push onward so that I could save the voice; the most beautiful voice.

"_Help me!" _

I tried to call out, to tell her that I would be there, that help was coming, but as soon as I opened my mouth to breathe in fire erupted in my lungs. I started burning from the inside out. I could feel my blood literally boil. I could see the bubbles form and erupt in the veins underneath my skin. It was like a million little explosions all over my body at once, like being shot with a million different bullets at the same time. However, I kept running in excruciating pain. I had to save the voice. I had to. If I didn't then no one would. If I didn't I would lose the voice forever.

I ran for an eternity, through wave after wave of flame all the while getting slowly closer. The liquid that dripped off of me seared in a loud snapping hiss as it hit the ground. I was like a piece of steak and the fat that was left on me was being burned off and falling into the charcoal bellow. My skin and muscle were eventually chard so that it was unrecognizable. Still I continued to burn, like the fire pit of ash from the previous night that had been set to be relit without any new fuel. I felt a little of my chard flesh fall off a little bit with every step I took. I left a bread crumb trail of scorched meat behind me as I continued forward. My skull was on fire; the flames seeming to have taken the place of my ivory locks. I could feel my brain slowly shriveling up like a raisin. I could feel air on my now exposed and bloody bone, acting like a sandblaster to my exposed skeleton. Finally the flames seemed to shrink away and I was able to see the voice. Her shinny black hair. Her perfect amethyst eyes.

"_Tucker stop it! I can't take it anymore!" _

Instantly the flames went away. And everything was dark. All that I could see now was the voice and her captor. All I could see was what I had been suffering for all of this time.

"_hahaha! Please- Tucker!" _

Sam and Tucker rolled around on the ground. Tucker was tickling her whenever she would let her guard down. They seemed to be in their own little world of perfect bliss. Anyone who looked could see that the two were perfectly fine; more than that, they were in love. I opened my ashen mouth and croaked.

"Sam, Tucker." Instantly the world around us became darker. They both stopped and became angry, appearing the size of buildings beside me. Sam, now beside me got in my face her eyes blazing.

"_We don't want you!"_

I whipped around to face Tucker as he shouted next.

"_You were never there for her! All the while you were off playing your little superhero games leaving her for herself. You were never meant for her. You were never good enough. I'm her man now. I'm better than you'll ever be. Who would want a half dead freak in the first place?" _

There words stung more than the flames I had run through. I could feel myself falling apart. I could no longer locate my hands, my arms, my chest, my feet.

"_Get away from them you Ghost!" _

I looked to see a large man in bright orange and a woman in ocean blue. My eyes pleaded with them to understand as they got closer. Fear welled up inside me. I tried to run away and was surprised when I could. I stoped to look at my hands and feet. My mouth fell open in silent horror as I recognized I was in my ghost form. I tried desperately to free myself from the body I had been trapped in, the body that everyone around me dispised. This form this body was going to be the end of me. I tried to escape, but I couldn't. I turned to plead with my parents who were now holding guns to my chest.

"Please it's me!" I immediately stopped my voice when I recognized the echo that my ghost form usually produced. I was trapped in this body that they hated so much. Why couldn't they see that I was still me inside? The man and woman glared and their stares sent pain through my body.

"_You could never be my son! I would never love a thing as disgusting as you!"_

"_I'm no father of a creature so vile! How dare you even suggest such a thing!"_

I screamed out in pain as a white flash erupt from the barrel of the man's gun and impacted with my chest. Again the man fired and I could feel my flesh burning away all over again. Blood poured from my open wounds, but still I stayed painfully aware of my surroundings. Sam and Tucker were suddenly beside the man and woman shooting at me with equal ferocity. The pain flashed violently around me and I could do nothing to protect myself against it.

I had been, literally, through hell to save these people. I had died without dying. Then I had arrived and they had not even needed saving. It had all been completely worthless. I had been through hell for nothing. They had not needed me. They had been disgusted with the sacrifice I had made for them; for giving them my life, and now I was being punished for my stupididty by having my life taken from me one more time. I was helpless as I was blown to pieces a small bit at a time with every gunshot. There went an ear, a finger, a kneecap.

"_Daniel."_

I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and I whipped around to look at the person who had called my name. I found myself recognizing the face but not being able to give it a name. I could tell they were older and wiser than me. The main thing about the person was that they radiated power. As soon as I had been touched by this man, no one else could get to me. Somehow every shot that was fired at me by my friends and family hit some invisible shield and ricocheted away. As soon as I had been merely touched… no one could defeat this person, they were invincible and here in this desolate place, they were the only one who could save me. I clung to his wrist.

"Please you have to help me." The man shook with mirth.

"_Dear Daniel, surely you can save yourself. You are a very strong young man."_ The powerful entity before me tried to pull away I desperately clung to his wrist. I did not want to suffer. Didn't this man see that without him I was going to die without dying; that I was going to suffer for a merciless eternity?

"You don't understand. You can't leave me. I can't take it anymore. I can't do it by myself. I need help. I need saving! I can't do the saving anymore! You have to do it! You have to save me!" tears sprung to my eyes. Couldn't this man see? He must not have understood what his presence meant to me. Without him I would suffer an incredible agony.

"_Really Daniel, I am not your guardian. I'm not meant to protect you. If there was anyone who wasn't supposed to protect you, it would be me. It's a fact Daniel, that you don't need my help; you can do this on your own. If the time does come that you need protecting I believe that man over there already does a perfectly fine job of it. He is your father after all."_

I turned around to watch as the man in the orange jumpsuit fired a blast at me. This one was large and headed slowly towards me, I was safe though, as long as I had this man here to protect me. The blast continued to move forward at a pace that made it look like an approaching sun. it floated slowly with a purpose towards us. I would be safe though, as long as I had this man here to protect me. The blast had almost passed when something went terribly wrong.

I gasped so hard my lungs hurt when I felt him turn intangible. The blast was in such close range that it burned my hazmat almost completely off for the instant I was vulnerable. I was only just able to turn intangible fast enough to keep the man from slipping away, and as soon as I had retightened my hold I had regained my safe haven.

"Don't leave me please! Can't you see? I NEED YOU!" tears sprang to my eyes again in my emotion. The man only calmly chuckled as he allowed me to hold his hand once more.

"_Can't you see Daniel? He's your father he's not going to hurt you. Don't you love him?" _I turned again to look at the man in the orange jumpsuit; but not without making sure that I had a firm hold on the man in front of me. When I looked at my father, I saw the fire in his eyes; though I don't know how I was able to see his eyes, because I shouldn't have been able to see anything through the hail that he was laying down on the weird shield that this man had. I found no love in my Dad's eyes, only anger and disgust as he tried desperately to break through to destroy me.

I searched my heart for the emotion of love that this powerful man before me had said I should have for my supposed father. In my heart I found absolutely nothing; nothing but sadness, nothing but fear and hurt. I found every horrible emotion I could think of without a hint of love anywhere in the mix.

"_He's your father Daniel. He's going to protect you. It's what a father does." _I found myself shaking my head. No, the man in the orange jumpsuit was not going to protect me he was going to do the opposite. He was going to destroy me and make me feel pain like I had never felt before.

"He doesn't love me. He won't protect me. He only wants to hurt me. He only wants to make me suffer." The man I was clinging to, replied slowly with a certain tone in his voice, that made me think carefully about what he was saying.

"_Well, I suppose if he's not going to protect you, even from himself, then he can't be your father." _

"But he conceived me. His blood runs through my veins. He has to be my Dad." The man I was still stubbornly clinging to shook his head with a small chuckle.

"_Daniel, you of all people, should know that what runs through your veins does not determine who or what you are. What makes a person a father is not a document or a chromosome. What makes a man your father is the love they have for you. A father is only determined by his love of his son." _Suddenly the man I had been gripping onto this entire time bent down closer to my face. Finaly I recognized the person providing me with my protection. My voice was barely above a whisper as my face dropped.

"Vlad?" Vlad's face fell at seeing my reaction. Quickly he tried to pull away. Still very well aware of the fact that I would be decimated if I let go; I clung to him like the plague. He was back to that distance away from me that he had been previously. He had been closer when he bent down, when I recognized him, and now he was further away again. I couldn't say I was glad for the fact. I could tell that when I was closer to him I was safer. When he leaned in, the noise went away, the lights went away, the pain, the turmoil, the confusion; it all went away.

"Vlad please stay." I didn't need to look away or look back to admit to Vlad and myself what I said next. "I need you Vlad. I want, _need, _your help. You are all I have left. I can't do this by myself anymore." Vlad seemed to slump for a minute before he slowly, gently came back closer to me. It was like he knew that when he did that I lost some of my panic. It was like he only stepped closer because he wanted to help me.

"_Very well Daniel, I shall protect you. Though you must know that once you have my protection, you can never be rid of it. Whether you like it or not, once I am protecting you, I will never stop." _The dire tone that Vlad had said that in made me wonder what he was getting at, but my thoughts were interrupted by the biggest explosion yet. The ground beneath me shook and trembled. I turned to see that the man in the orange jumpsuit had resorted to coming to shoot at point blank range at the shield that was keeping him back. The fire and anger in his eyes was the worst I had ever seen. He was wishing death on me with every heartbeat. Racks slowly started to appear in the air as the invisible dome that was keeping me safe started to crumble.

"Vlad please!" That was all the agreement Vlad needed. He moved me gently out of the way and stood between me and the raging orange bull. Vlad held one hand up in the air above his head. Slowly a red ecto blast started to form in his hand. It got bigger, and bigger, until it was the size of three car tires.

Finally he let it go. Red exploded everywhere. There was no pain though, there was no hurt or agony, only warmth. When I could see again the black we had been standing in was all turned into a deep warm red. All of my worry was gone, all of my hurt just disappeared. Vlad stood next to me smiling.

"_There, absolutely nothing will hurt you now. Not even yourself. I must say son, you have a rather strong grip." _I blushed, not at the jab but at what he had called me. I wasn't really his son. I stopped for a moment and thought over that statement.

What Vlad had said was right. I didn't want to decide who my Dad was based on who's DNA I shared. A real dad would love you no matter what. A real Dad would protect me when I needed it most. The man in the orange jumpsuit had been none of those things. He was not my father.

But if he wasn't my father then who was?

"Vlad."

"_Yes little badger?" _ I opened my mouth before I closed it; uncertain of how I should ask this next question without sounding stupid or weird. Vlad seemed to know what I was trying to say without me saying anything though. He just gave me an answer without waiting for the question.

"_You are the only person I have ever protected Daniel. You are the only person to whom I have ever pledged my everlasting loyalty. I assure you my loyalty does not come cheap. I don't do things for you simply because I can; I do them because I want you to be happy. I would go to the ends of the universe to help you Daniel. You are all I have, and all I care about." _I paused for a minute to think. Was that love? Was that the sort of love a Dad was supposed to have for his son? I didn't know. It sounded like the kind of love a Dad was supposed to have. If I didn't have a Dad anyway then Vlad was definitely to closest thing I had to one. Somehow I could just tell that he was supposed to be my Dad. He was half ghost like me, right? He had saved me from the people trying to hurt me.

Then it was simple. Everything was clear. There wasn't a mystery. I was safe and loved like a son should be because of one very powerful man. I let go of his wrist for only a brief moment before I latched my arms around him. Son's were supposed to hug their Dad's right?

It was only a few seconds before Vlad returned the hug. Inside his arms I knew he was my Dad. I had never felt so safe in my life. In Vlad's arms I knew someone was going to take care of me no matter what.

Line Break.

My eyes opened and it only took a few seconds for me to figure out what I was doing. Surprisingly, I didn't recoil violently and start shouting in disgust. Though I was incredibly surprised and disgusted. I had to keep still though if I didn't; want Vlad to wake up and I definitely did not want him to wake up.

It took me a minute to figure out if my dream had even been real or not. I mean how often do you wake up hugging Vlad Masters? How should I know? Maybe I was still dreaming. I tried to remember when I had fallen asleep and distinctly remembered doing my ghost sense exercises before I called it quits for the night. It had been a dream. So then how did Vlad get here? And why the Hell was I hugging him!

I sighed as I remembered the first half of my dream. I had probably screamed. Like a lot. That had been a pretty bad one. I glanced to the wrist that was laying on Vlad's side as air rushed with a soft rush in and out of his lungs. Around his wrist was a bruise, like a bracelet. I cringed.

Vlad had probably come to try to wake me up and then, just like in my dream, I hadn't let go. I was used to my dreams correlating with what I did while I was asleep. I can't tell you how many times I have woken up with some sort of thing on my head as a "helmet" because in my dream I had gone into some kind of arena to battle a ghost I couldn't possibly beat in a million years.

Gezze that bruise looked like it had to hurt. How long had he been standing there with me just grabbing onto him? It must have been a pretty long time if he decided that he was tired enough to climb into the bed. He was only at the very edge. Clearly he had been uncomfortable with the idea of getting in in the first place. I was honestly surprised he hadn't fallen off. I think it was because my arms were still around him that was even still on the bed.

Being held captive all night had happened to Jazz a lot too. She was often the one to catch me in a bad nightmare before it got Mom and Dad's attention. I'd woken up plenty of times with her in my bed to hear about how I had tried to defend her from some sort of monster I was dreaming about.

I internally swore as I realized the hug was probably my fault too. Freaking stupid dreams! What if he woke up and saw that I had hugged him! That would just be too weird! It was already weird and the only reason I hadn't moved by now was because I still didn't know if Vlad was a light sleeper or not and I didn't want him to fall off and wake up. I really just had to ask him one of these times if he was a light sleeper or not. The uncertainty was causing me a lot of problems.

I really really really didn't want to just sit there and hug Vlad Masters, however. I was grateful for "Dream Vlad" and all, but this was real Vlad, and I did not feel like hugging the real Vlad. He had done a lot for me, yes. Enough to warrant spooning, NO! No no no no ABSOLUTELY NOT! Really I wanted to gag at the situation I had landed myself in.

Okay well I could do this I would just have to be super careful. Without Moving my arms I scooted myself more towards the middle of the bed. Slowly. Very _very _slowly, I pulled Vlad back away from the edge. I repeated the process until I was satisfied. Then I made my arms intangible and let them fall through the bed so that I didn't have to move him anymore by trying to just pull them out.

Finally free I moved myself stealthily all five feet to the other side of the bed. Yes it was a freaking huge bed, and I intended to use all of it to separate me and Vlad. I shivered as I recalled what had just happened to me. That had _not _been cool. I was pretty sure I never wanted to wake up like that again. There were just so many things wrong with this it was…I don't know what it was but it was wrong.

I sighed and tired to relax into the bed, which really wasn't hard considering the bed. I could just forget about this. Vlad wouldn't know that I had woken up. After what I'm sure he experienced before he decided to climb in, he wouldn't put it past me to have moved to the opposite side of the bed by morning. I would just have to forget this whole thing ever happened. I could pretend I hadn't woken up and been totally freaked with what I had discovered. Right now in my life I didn't need any more awkward weirdness. Though that doesn't seem to stop the universe from throwing it in my face anyway. I just had to forget. I just…had…to…Zzz Zzz

DELETED SCENE #5

Unexpectedly a glob of orange mush was suddenly being chucked at my feet as we walked by a person still in the process of cleaning out their pumpkin. Having had plenty of things chucked at me over the past two years, I easily sidestepped and avoided the mess. However when I had moved out of the way the orange goo didn't hit the floor, but a pair of shinny back shoes that had been walking beside me. There was a tiny squelch that could be heard as the guts spladdered over the black surface. Instatnly the shoes halted and stood perfectly still. I knew who those shoes belonged to and quite frankly I was scared as to how he was going to react. I followed the form of Vlad from his shoes up to his face. His lips were pressed into a hard line and his eyes were pure fire as he glared at who had thrown the pile of orange goop onto his perfectly kept shoes. I followed Vlad's gaze to find the person who had unthinkingly thrown the guts. Her long thin brown hair was tied up into a messy bun and all of the color had drained from her face. Her eyes were so wide you could see all of her iris. She stared, not daring to breathe, at the spot she had thrown the offending pumpkin guts.

In that moment the generator that had been making a good deal of noise shut off. The people working on the windows, oblivious to the drama that was taking place across the huge room, were taking their lunch break. I could visibly see the new silence press on the woman. She gulped before she slowly took the ear plugs out of her ears and brought her gaze up to meet Vlad's. There was a long moment where Vlad and this woman just stared at each other. The woman remained as still as a statue. I think her heart might have even stopped beating for a few seconds. Vlad's gaze was cold and calculating.

I had not seen anything like this happen today so I had no clue how Vlad was going to react. I didn't like the look he was giving the woman. It was one I had seen on Plasmius' a few times. It made me nervous because it gave me the idea that he was thinking about doing something drastic, and I might have to play hero to stop him. The look on his face was one I had seen when he was about to do something evil, or get really pissed off. I felt like I should be doing something to stop Vlad right now, like I was supposed to prevent this whole thing from happening before it got out of hand.

I was hesitant to do anything though because I didn't know if I should. Was it my place? Was Vlad really going to do something extreme and unnecessary or was his glare just putting everyone on edge? I didn't want to look stupid and paranoid by acting like the "hero" when nobody really even needed to be saved. The situation still pulled at my reflex to help regardless. That instinct I had to jump into hero mode was hesitant to come to the surface after not having been needed for so long, but it was definitely there. I internally struggled with the decision to intervene or not as the moment continued to press heavier on everyone.

I glanced one more time at the absolutely terrified woman, and the vacation that my hero complex had been able to take the past three weeks, was over. The shear terror playing out on that woamns face was all that was needed to send me straight into "hero mode". I knew that look. That was the look a person gets when they know that they are completely helpless. That look was what accompanied a scream for help or a cry of fear. I knew how to react to that look. There was a very clear procedure to take when there is a person with this look in the vicinity. I suddenly knew what to do.

I stepped so that I was in between the enemy and the person in need; acting as a shield, a physical barrier the innocent person would be able to see was there to protect them. I put on my fearless 'hero face' to be able to look the enemy directly in the eye. I made sure my stance was tall and strong before I looked directly into the eyes of my opponent.

Then I saw my opponent was Vlad. My false confidence started to falter. As quickly as I had slipped into my 'hero routine' I was slipping out of it. I continued to stare at Vlad's face in confusion trying to desperately decide what to do. By stepping in front of the woman I had snapped Vlad out of his rage as well. I watched as his face quickly lost its look of anger for something closer to his usual stone mask of indifference. I couldn't really tell what Vlad was thinking or what he was going to do.

None of my attention was on the other people in the area but if it had been I would have seen everyone on stage looking at me and Vlad like they were waiting for us to burst into flame. The woman behind me had started to lose it now that she had been removed from Vlad's glare, and tears had started to slip down her face. The air seemed to quiver with the silence that now occupied the space me and vlad were standing in. I don't think either me or Vlad noticed though. As soon as we had locked gazes we had completely fallen away from whatever had been going on around us. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do now. I had just stepped in front of Vlad making it very clear I was going to defend this woman and fight him if necessary. I didn't exactly realize _what_ i was doing when I stepped in front of him though and now we were both at dead stand still not sure what was supposed to come next. It was obvious by the way that we were standing here completely clueless that we wouldn't be playing the hero and villain roles we usually did in something like this. So what the heck _were_ Vlad and I in this situation? What were we supposed to do?

I tried forcing him into that position in my head for the sake of knowing what to do next, but I was quickly finding myself unable to label Vlad as the opposition or bring myself to see him as not on my side. I couldn't do it. In my head it was impossible for me to put Vlad, the person who housed fed and clothed me, under that label anymore. I couldn't fight him.

I had to do _something_ though. I might not be able to fight Vlad like a villain anymore, but I still had to make sure he didn't do anything. I had to make sure that Vlad kept his cool and didn't do something that would come back to haunt him. I quickly decided that instead of outright stopping Vlad with force I was going to have to get him to see reason. I was going to have to see if I could get him to calm down by playing bomb squad.

I studied Vlad's face to try and see what I was working with underneath his mask of cold indifference. From what I could tell he was pretty much just as flustered as I was. His shoulders had rolled forwards just the smallest bit and his chin was lowered an even smaller amount. It looked like he had been snapped just as violently out of his funk as I had been out of mine. I was kind of relieved that I hadn't had to do anything besides step in front of Vlad to get him to cool it. I didn't really know what to do other than that to get him to calm down.

Now that it was clear me and Vlad were both not going to explode on each other I decided it was time that we high tailed it out of there. It was pretty obvious to me that we needed an excuse to get out of the room and the awkward situation I had landed us in. Vlad still looked tense and I didn't want to push it. The best thing would be to get out of here. Lucky for us, I had gotten very good at impromptu excuses. I coughed just a little bit before I started talking so my voice wouldn't come out in a squeak.

"Vlad why don't we go get you a new pair of shoes?" Vlad's staring at me relaxed just a tiny bit in recognition of my plan before his mask was snapping back up and he spoke in a voice just as cold and indifferent.

"Martin we are done here." Vlad didn't wait for a response and didn't give anyone a chance to make one. Vlad swiftly swept his foot back and tapped the toe of his shoe against the floor behind him, forcing a majority of the pumpkin guts that had been on the shoe to fall to the floor. Vlad then turned to face the direction of the stairs that lead up to the stage and started walking. I didn't need any other indicator to know that I was supposed to follow. I quickly jumped slash jogged around the pile of goo that kept me from being directly behind Vlad and followed him down the stairs. Vlad only glanced to me once on our way out the door and he didn't look at me long enough for me to know what he was looking at me for. For all of the dramatic tension me and Vlad had just built up we were diffusing it by simply walking away. I could feel the eyes of everyone behind us as we just up and left. Like a firework that had been set to go off but never left the ground.

Vlad kept up his cold indifferent act as we walked, very quickly in my opinion, out of the Ball room. I was still kind of nervous about what was going to happen next. I was still really hoping that I had done the right thing and that Vlad wasn't mad. He was still impossible to read. We walked down the hallway we had come down to get there and passed what looked like people carrying suits of armor and vampire coffins on our way to the main hall. Despite seeing things like coffins go by, Vlad kept up his act of cold indifference. It was seriously starting to make me nervous.

Had I done something wrong? We were out of the Ballroom now and Vlad was still being all cold. I thought if I got him away from what was making him angry and upset he wouldn't be like this anymore, so why was he still wound up? What if the Ball room wasn't what was making him upset? What if _I _was really what Vlad was upset with now? What if by jumping into the situation back there I had gotten Vlad to let go of his anger for the pumpkin lady and focus it on me? I had pretty much blatantly defied Vlad's authority over his employee's back there. There was no way he was happy with me after I had done that. Vlad didn't stand for things like rebellion, I of all people would know. I had seen him punish people for even the slightest disobedience all day.

I was pretty sure by now that I had done something horribly wrong and I was going to have to answer for it. All I could do now was follow Vlad and wait for him to start yelling at me for being stupid and getting in his way. I had to use all of my will power not to slowly fall away from my position behind Vlad as I followed him down the hallway. How did I always manage to do the stupid thing? Now Vlad was mad at me and I would be paying for it dearly; I was sure.

I looked up to Vlad again to see he still had his face completely controlled and blank. What was he going to do to me? I was freaking out on the inside trying to come up with a good excuse for what I had done. However that was really hard considering I wasn't even sure what I had done that had made him upset. I knew it was pointless to try and explain myself. There was no explaining yourself to Vlad. That still didn't stop me from trying though. I frantically started going through the scene that had just happened in my head, trying to find an excuse for everything I had just done.

I glanced to Vlad again as we turned to go up the main stair case to the second floor. Vlad still wouldn't look at me and he kept his gaze pointed directly ahead of us. We continued to walk deeper and deeper into the maze of hallways and further and further away from all of the commotion that was being made for the Ball tonight. The silence was slowly pressing down on my eardrums and I started to crumble under the pressure. Why hadn't Vlad said anything yet? What was he going to do? What was he planning on punishing me with?

Vlad wasn't looking at me, or talking or glaring or anything. He just walked along like I wasn't even there. The fact was slowly pressing on the insides of my head. Finally I couldn't take the suspense anymore. I had to get him to say something, anything!

"Vlad I'm sorry!" Vlad stopped in his tracks and stood frozen like a statue, still facing forward. I couldn't see his face because I had stopped too, still behind him. I kept talking, worried because he still wasn't saying anything. "I overreacted, and I shouldn't have done anything. I-I know you couldn't have really hurt her because there were other people there and you can't reveal your ghost powers or anything, but you saw her face Vlad! I just didn't know okay? I didn't know what you were going to do and I was scared. I assumed that you were going to do something that I was going to have to stop. I know I shouldn't assume things but I just reacted okay? I just reacted like I was used to reacting and I didn't think. I'm sorry, I didn't think. Just, please I know you won't go easy on me for what I did but I just want you to know I'm sorry. Just please don't be mad." Vlad's shoulders sagged and he let out a heavy breath. He let his head fall to his chest and his arms dangled at his sides. I watched, not daring to move and risk doing something else wrong. He stood there like that for a moment. All that I could hear was my heart beat thumping in my ears before he spoke. His voice sounded nothing like I had expected. It was low and defeated.

"Am I really so terrifying?" my face dropped at what he had asked. Was I hearing him right? My breath got caught in my throat in my surprise and I was unable to even ask why he had just said such a weird thing. When I didn't answer Vlad turned around to face me. His eyes looked tired like he had aged ten years in the last ten seconds.

"Do I really scare you so much?" I blinked ten times in about five seconds and shook my head slightly back and forth trying to shake off my shock. What was the fruitloop talking about? I grunted out a few noises before I was finally able to say a whole word.

"Uh…ah….bu…What?" Vlad's face just saddened more and his gaze fell to the ground. I waited for him to explain. To say something that would make sense, but he just stood there, staring at the floor.

"Vlad aren't you mad at me? What the heck are you talking about?" That got Vlad to bring his gaze up from the floor. Though his face was still mostly sad it was obvious he was confused with what I had just said.

"Why would I be mad at you Daniel? I was the one who caused you to jump to conclusions. You are not at fault here. I've nothing to blame you for." A grin split like a banana arcoss my face and my shoulders relaxed. Thank god, I was going to live! My relief at finding out I wasn't in trouble only lasted so long though as my gaze wandered back to Vlad. He looked at me slightly amused, though pain and sadness were still projecting form his face like a neon sign.

"No Daniel, you're not in trouble. If there is anyone who is at fault here that would be me. Now why don't you go to your room and maybe play some of those videogames you are so fond of before I call you down to lunch? We'll be having it in a short while." What was left of the smile that had just appeared on my face quickly fell off as Vlad turned around and dismissed me. His hands fell into their familiar position clasped behind his back as he started to walk down the hallway away from me. I might be clueless, but something was definitely up with Vlad. What the heck was wrong with him? Why did he ask me if I thought he was scary? How was that relevant to anything that had just happened? I mean yeah when me and Vlad had been staring at each other back there in the ball room a lot of emotions had made their way through my head. Mostly confusion but there was some fear and nervousness their too. Who wouldn't be nervous, that had been one of the most awkward and tense situations of my life! Did he think that I was afraid of him?

My eyes widened a little bit at the possibility. I wasn't afraid of Vlad. I mean he could be pretty scary when he wanted, yeah, but I wasn't afraid of him or anything. I finally came back to myself to try and reassure Vlad that I was not in fact afraid of him, only to realize that Vlad was disappearing around the corner at the end of the hallway.

"Hey Vlad wait!" I huffed when vlad didn't stop and started sprinting down the hall to catch up. It didn't take long, I'd gotten pretty fast and Vlad hadn't gotten that far away. I ran in front of Vlad, stopping him from moving forward by putting my hands up in front of him. I looked up to his face, and tried to get him to talk.

"Vlad what made you think I was afraid of you back there?" Vlad smiled at me like I was a little kid and I was asking about something I could never understand, like why Santa Clause didn't exist. The look annoyed me but I kept my annoyance to myself, settling on a frown instead.

"Daniel, it's nothing important. I shouldn't have said anything to worry you. Now please let me by so I can go change my shoes, or at least find a trash can and phase the filth off of the ones I'm currently wearing." Vlad took a step to the side to try and walk around me but I quickly shuffled over to stay in front of him, like a moving road block. This of course earned me a look of annoyance, but I couldn't really bring myself to care about that right now. Vlad now looked sternly at me.

"Daniel, step aside. I'm not going to play your childish games." The bravado that usually backed up Vlad's demands wasn't there and that made me seriously worry. What the heck was wrong with him? He tried to step around me again. I snapped myself out of my own thoughts enough to make sure he didn't get anywhere. I tried to let go of some of my annoyance and be firm instead.

"Vlad common I'm not that stupid. I've been forced to listen to my sister's insane syco-bable for long enough to know that there is something wrong when it's shoved in my face. Why do you think that I'm scared of you?" Vlad sighed heavily again and rolled his eyes; now clearly annoyed with me. I couldn't help but get a little ticked that he was brushing me off so carelessly. Now he didn't say anything instead he just glared at me and tried to get around me again. I shuffled backwards and to the side, still blocking his path. I glared right back and as I glared I started reciting what my sister would always start reciting to me whenever I wouldn't tell her something. I pretty much knew the thing by heart now because there were a lot of times when there was information that she knew I was keeping from her. So I got to hear this little speech a lot.

"There are three main reasons why one person might refuse to reveal a piece of information to another person." Vlad glared at me again as if to say "really" before he stepped to the side again. I had settled into a battle stance and could now easily shuffle back and forth as Vlad tried to get around me. I held my hands up, like a basketball player trying to block an opponent with the ball.

"One reason is that a person might be scared of the consequences their secret might bring to whoever they tell. They might be afraid of the danger that the information will put the other person or perhaps themselves in." Vlad growled shortly at me before he faked a left and tried to sneak around my right, however I was too fast for him. He was too proud to get into a battle stance himself so I was able to shift my weight much faster than he was. I couldn't help but start to smirk a little bit as he grew more and more frustrated.

"Another reason a person might withhold information is because they might have been asked to keep that information a secret for another person. They might not share information because they believe it is not their place and they do not want to betray another's trust." Vlad stopped for a second and stared at me before he abruptly vanished. Already having put myself in a sort of halfway battle mode my reaction time was good and I was able to become intangible and invisible fast enough that he couldn't get by me. He growled again and we both faded back to visibility and tangibility as I continued my speech.

"The third and most common reason is that a person is afraid of what another person might think of them after learning the information. A person will most likely withhold information from another because they are ashamed and do not want their image or relationship with the other to be changed or damaged." A smirk curled fully onto my face when Vlad finally stopped and sighed in the middle of the hallway. We had shuffled a good ten feet down the hallway and it looked like Vlad was finally giving in. Though I still stayed ready.

"Fine Daniel, yes. I am not telling you what I meant by those questions because I do not want our relationship to be changed or damaged. I was obviously wrong in my previous assumtions anyhow so what I thought is irrelevant either way. Now let me get through!" Vlad tried to pull a surprise dodge on me but I had played this game enough with Jazz to know to never let your guard down. I was able to just stay in front of him and send him my own comeback.

"So you want to keep your spot as my arch enemy then?"That caused Vlad's shoulders to slouch and his head to drop.

"No, Daniel, I do not-"

"Well then you're going to have to tell me what's wrong because that's how this whole 'not being enemy's' thing works. You can't keep secrets like that Vlad. And you really can't go around blurting out crap like 'Are you afraid of me?' and expect me not to get that something's up. I'm not letting you get by until you tell me exactly what made you think that I was afraid of you." A half convincing smirk slid onto Vlad's face and he stood up a little straighter. I braced myself for a potentially degrading comment and stayed in my battle ready stance. He wasn't getting past me until he told me what was wrong. I could literally stand like this for hours.

"Well it's not exactly as if you are known for your perceptive abilities. The rest of us were under the impression that you had inherited your father's cluelessness." I choked for a moment on my breath as Vlad brought _my dad _to the front of my head. I felt a tiny bit of shame and denial that Vlad would compare me to my dad in the first place. I couldn't be like him. I would never…I had to quickly push down those memories and shuffle back in front of Vlad as he tried to use my brief lapse in concentration to his advantage. My eyes hardened into ice and my sentences turned short. Vlad definelty wasn't getting away with this now. Not after pulling a trick like that.

"Don't change the subject and answer my question Vlad. This isn't hard. I'm not going to give this up because this is important. You told me before when we were in the Ghost Zone that you weren't going to keep secrets anymore. You said you would explain yourself to me if I asked. Well now I'm asking. Why did you think I was afraid of you?"

DELETED SCENE #6

Line Break. Vlad's POV.

I mindlessly flipped the page in the newspaper I was hiding behind. Taking the opportunity that the regular lowering of the paper in front of me provided, I inconspicuously checked up on Daniel. He was still toiling away hunched over one of the many counters of my lab; determined to build that blasted thermos. A part of me was of course hoping he would _not_ discover that he had simply connected two wires incorrectly. I certainly didn't believe that he would need or should even want such a device for protection. If he was successful in building that idiotic contraption he would inevitably bring it with him to the Ball; and by allowing him to take that irritating 'security blanket' of sorts I was not helping him overcome his paranoia. I wanted him to have an opportunity to realize the invalidity of his anxiety. That was part of why I was so insistent that he attend the Ball. He needed this experience, of simply coexisting with ghosts in the vicinity, to help him overcome his apprehension. He needed more experiences with ghosts that were not intent on his or others destruction.

I watched from the corner of my eye, slightly amused, as Daniel disassembled the device for a fourth time to try to find the problem. Once more he passed over the two wires he had incorrectly connected. Disregarding his minor but significant oversight, I had been impressed with Daniel's skills in engineering thus far.

When Daniel had asked if I had been in possession of a Fenton Thermos I told him that I had not, which was in fact the truth. I suppose I should not have taken advantage of the boy's poorly phrased question, but as I had said before I did not desire the young man's mental ease to rely so heavily on the device. I did in fact have the _blueprints_ required to build one of those contraptions. I had even gone as far as to improve upon the design and eliminate some of the devices rather blaring flaws. A year or so ago I had required myself to build the containment devices for Ms. Grey. However Daniel had not asked for blueprints, or for any other device that might be used to capture a ghost. He had only gone as far as to ask specifically for a ridiculous thermos. Logically, I did not see the need to enlighten him to his significant oversight in asking me for something so specific.

I suppose if I was honest with myself I was also repaying the boy, in some way, for his rather exuberant choice of attire of me tomorrow evening. A strange feeling of pride mixed with distaste rose within me when I thought of the boy's rather tactful negotiation merely three nights ago. I should not have put Dracula past the boy. It was rather ironic in the same way that the costume I had chosen for Daniel, was for him. I refused to wear those hideous and demeaning plastic fangs, however. I had my own fangs that would do nicely. Yes Daniel was turning out more like me than I believe he would care to admit. I could not turn down a smirk as a wave of warmth washed through me at the thought. I allowed myself a glance at the young man sitting not five feet from me once again.

He had neglected to change out of his slacks and dress shoes today for whatever reason. I wasn't complaining. The boys current attire made him appear so much more like the dignified character that he was. The sleeves of the oxford he had worn under his suit jacket today were rolled up his arms. I could tell the growth hormones I had been administering to the boy every morning were doing their job. The pants that had been the perfect height when he had arrived at my mansion now appeared slightly too short. His suit jackets also appeared to be fitting slightly tighter as he had gained a considerable amount of muscle over his stay. I suppose for a normal human such a gain in muscle mass over this short period of time would be considered unhealthy, but for a half ghost it was perfectly normal; especially a half ghost on growth hormones. Such a growth spurt might have thrown an average human off of their equilibrium as well. Daniel however was handling his body's changes with surprising grace. I supposed his daily training and the keen sense of balance that came from the ability to fly could be responsible for the lack of missteps.

My thoughts meandered back to the boy's attire. Obtaining properly fitting clothes for the now growing Daniel would be easy enough. When the boy was at school one of these days I would have a team of tailors come in and adjust the hems as necessary. Perhaps his shoes would need to be slightly larger as well. That would be as simple as sending someone out to gather the shoes that needed replacing in the appropriate size.

In addition his hair, which had hung just above his eyebrows before, seemed to almost always need pushing out of his eyes. I would have to ask the boy about a hair cut in the near future. I did not mind the boy's longer hair. It would be hypocritical of me to demand the boy keep his hair at a 'respectable' length when my own had remained past my shoulders for far longer than I could remember. If I wasn't correct the boy would need to start shaving in the near future as well, the way things were progressing. An interesting day that would be indeed.

I was distracted from my thoughts as Daniel let out a heavy sigh. He pushed all that he had been working on to the side so he could rest his head with a small thump on the counter. Once more I could not withhold a small grin at the boys defeated posture. He had been at this for three days now and he had yet to figure out what he had done wrong. As usual the boy's stubborn nature had prevented him from relenting in his attempts or asking for help. Now that the Ball was just a night away I could see that the boy was losing morale. He had tried many more times than most people would have cared to, to build his beloved thermos. It was really a feat in itself that he had persevered through so many failures already.

I peered over the edge of my newspaper at Daniel. He spun slightly in the chair he occupied to look at me. Clearly, his face stated that he saw me looking at him and was waiting for me to gloat that I had been right about his inability to construct a functioning ghost containment device. I only met his gaze with a raised eyebrow before I slightly flicked the paper I had been holding; completely obscuring me from view once more.

I resisted a chuckle when the response to my silent reply was more loud sighs of despair. I listened intently to the sounds coming from just beyond the walls of newspaper I had erected around myself. A fair amount of metallic clinking alerted me to the fact that Daniel had resumed his tinkering. He continued to unintelligibly mutter to himself as he went through the motions of reassembling his precious container. Suddenly a loud clang caused me to flinch as something, evidently made of metal, fell to the ground. I now obviously lowered my paper to see what the matter was. Not a moment after the loud noise Daniel's upper body flopped onto the counter as he cursed his clumsiness in a depressed tone.

"God damit." Without picking himself up off the counter Daniel let his arm fall to his side before he aimed it towards the fallen object. I watched slightly amused as Daniel encased the item in his own green energy to lift it to the counter once more. Once the piece had been restored to its proper place on the counter Daniel hoisted himself up with is arms as if it were taking him a great bit of effort. He then rested his head on one of his hands as he halfheartedly picked up the disassembled pieces of the thermos he had been so diligently working on. I was about to return to my façade of inattention once more but was stopped.

"Vlad?" I had to refrain from smirking at the boy. He had not turned to look at me when he called; and he had uttered the question in such a defeated whine. It seems that my little badger had finally had enough.

"Yes Daniel?" I thought I had kept the smug tone out of my voice but apparently I had not for Daniel slowly spun in his chair to meet me with a glare. I waited for one of his classic retorts but one never came. Instead Daniel opened his mouth as if he were about to say something in his annoyance before he let out another heavy sigh, causing his shoulders to slump slightly and his head to fall. There was a moment where I watched Daniel sit in such a posture. He then brought his head back up to meet my gaze. This time it seemed as if he were pleading with his eyes that I not make him the butt of any further teasing.

"Vlad can you help me with this?" My eyebrows shot up at the question. I merely looked at the boy for a moment in his distress. With what I wanted to accomplish for the boy my answer was obvious, but I hesitated for just the slightest moment in my response. I had very clearly felt the urge to give the boy what he wanted despite what I knew was best. How could I refuse the boy when he spoke to me in such a way?

"No." I forced myself to very quickly harden in my resolve. I had to do what was best for the boy, and if he did not have that blasted thermos with him tomorrow evening it would make the experience he would have that much more valuable. He should not have to rely on the stupid contraption, no matter how much he wanted it.

"But Vlad!" I didn't lower my paper as I responded.

"Daniel we've already had this discussion. You are already aware that I don't believe you are helping yourself with that blasted device. It would be illogical and counterproductive for me to help you." There was a short frustrated growl.

"Could you at least look at me when you're telling me I'm insane?" I sighed slightly. That was not what I had said.

"Daniel you know that's not what I believe. I'm just trying to do what is best for you-"

_Ding dong, dong ding, Dong ding ding dong._

I was cut off by the ethereal door bell to my ghost portal. Daniel tensed slightly before he forced himself to relax and look to me for an explanation to the strange noise he had just heard. It _would_ sound strange to anyone who hadn't heard it before, resembling something along the lines of Orchestral chimes being played under water. The sound of this particular chime was unique in that it could not be heard by the human ear. The tones only resonated sufficiently in ectoplasm; meaning that the sound waves amplified themselves to an audible level only when passing through the correct substances. This way, I, because of the ectoplasm present in my DNA, could be alerted to any specter that arrived before they waltzed into my mansion, and my human staff would not be bothered when I went to greet someone at my portal doors.

I however did not bother myself with this information now. What I was concerned about was how I was going to explain away the obviously ghost related noise to Daniel. I had schooled my features into a casual expression despite the fact that I was furiously cursing on the inside. I had already supposed which ghost would chose this particular time to disturb me and it was not one that would make this situation any less stressful. Of all the times a ghost had to go and ring the door bell.

I had to find a way to get Daniel to leave so I could shoo the specter away for another time. I did not want Daniel to have to deal with surprise visits from any specter; especially ones he was not on good terms with. The last thing Daniel needed was for his state of alertness to be heightened. As I had explained to the boy several nights before now, I needed him to practice keeping his "switch off". Unanounced visits from adversaries were not going to accomplish that for the boy.

I folded up my paper as I turned back to Daniel. He was looking at me with a curious expression on his face. There was one thing I needed at this moment and that was for Daniel to leave without becoming suspicious. Perhaps I could fool Daniel for just a small amount of time. Surely without knowing any better I would be able to pass off the otherworldly chime as the doorbell at the main entrence. He had never heard that before either, as it were.

"I suppose someone is at the front door. Daniel why don't you go start your training session for today? I don't believe you've had a good go in a few days now. I'll be there shortly after I take care of this matter." Daniel merely scoffed and stood up, matching me as I got out of my own chair.

"Vlad that has got to be the worst excuse you've come up with to get me out of a room ever. I have no clue what the noise was or what it meant, but you have got to give me some credit. There is no way that that was just a regular doorbell." I was about to reassure the boy that it was merely _a very expensive and exotic_ doorbell. However I was interrupted by a rather loud clanging from the closed portal. Mentally cursing I watched apprehensively as Daniel's head locked instantly to the portal doors. As soon as the fact that there was a specter knocking on the other side of the metal barrier clicked in his head he unconsciously shifted to his ghostly form and slipped ever so slightly into a battle stance. I had to restrain myself form outright growling at the uninvited specter's poor timing. Now there was absolutely no chance of me getting Daniel away from this situation without a straight forward explanation. Daniel turned cautiously back to me; now very careful to never turn his back on me or the supposed 'threat'.

"It was a doorbell on your portal wasn't it?" The playful teasing smirk that might have accompanied that statement from Daniel in any other situation was absent. Instead his face was carefully controlled as he asked the question, making it clear that he already knew the answer. I sighed. God damn the boy's deductive reasoning. The boy's vigilance around anything ghostly realted would not allow him to rest until I gave him anything less than a straight answer. This situation was not going to head anywhere pleasant soon.

"Yes Daniel, it was a doorbell for the entrance to my portal. I have an appointment with this specter and I believe it would be better if the two of you refrained from interacting. I would now appreciate it if you would go up to the training room as I suggested earlier." Now Daniel let some of the disbelief and anger he obviously was feeling show on his face and in his voice.

"Uh, no. I'm not going to just run up to the training room while you plot for some evil scheme. Who's on the other side of the doors?" I pinched the bridge of my nose so that my hand would hide part of my face and subsequently my reaction to his accusations. That comment had stung. It was obvious that the boy still did not trust me in these matters. I suppose I could not blame him. What else was he supposed to think when there was a ghost at my portal that I had not alerted him to? I had been open with the boy for the entire time he had been with me willingly. I could explain to him all that I was doing with this particular visitor once he had come and gone; in the mean time however, I still did not think it wise to have Daniel in the vicinity as I did my business. The fact that he seemed ready to go into an all out brawl because of the mere notion that there was a ghost nearby was only enforcing my stance on the matter.

"Daniel please, I am not plotting for any evil scheme. You are already aware that I have several ghosts in my employ for the Ball. This is merely one of them. I would prefer that you not be present because I do not want you overreacting when the two of you are already not on the best of terms. I will explain everything once I have dealt with this. Please cooperate with me just this once" I brought my hand down to watch Daniel shift suspiciously. The gears in his head were furiously working to keep up with the situation. Flickers of unidentifiable emotions flew over his face as he seemingly came to several conclusions. Most of the hostility that Daniel had previously exhibited was dropped and he adopted a somewhat apologetic look. What on earth went through the boy's head? Why had he been so quick to drop his accusations of me? Did he truly trust my word so blindly? When he opened his mouth to speak he had my complete attention.

Daniel _was_ about to speak before the idiot on the other side of the portal decided that that moment would be the appropriate time to remind me that he was still at my door. A loud clanging resonated once again from the portal as he called to check if I was on the other side.

"My Liege are you there?" Apprehensively I watched as Daniel tensed like an animal readying itself for attack. At seeing the boy tense once more I lost some of my temper and lashed out at the Fright Knight waiting on the other side of the portal. How dare that tin-can make Daniel react in such a way.

"You can wait one bloody minute until I am ready!" I shouted at the thick metal doors in anger. When my outburst was met with silence I turned back to Daniel. His eyes shifted between me and the portal where the Fright Knight was waiting. I sighed and unclenched my hands, pleading with Daniel to oblige with my requests.

"Daniel, please." I watched as Daniel forced himself to relax slightly out of his battle ready posture. I was not fond of the uncertain, rueful look that slid onto his face as he spoke next. I knew how to manipulate Daniel when he was merely suspicious of the morality I was exhibiting. I was not however, certain how to proceed when it was clear that this was not his usual suspicious demeanor.

"It's the Fright Knight isn't it?" He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the portal and looked to me for a response. I gave no indication as to if he was right or wrong; not wanting to encourage him further. He however continued as if I had just confirmed everything he had suspected. He took a deep breath before he forced his own hands to relax. "So you need help with your haunted house too huh?" His smirk was nervous instead of confidant as it usually was. Daniel was trying to be funny. I was torn between relief in the fact that he was attempting to make sarcastic remarks, and anger in the fact that he wasn't showing any signs of leaving as I had instructed. Really this was becoming slightly ridiculous.

"Daniel this is not a joking matter. For your own safety-"

"So you don't want me here with another ghost now, but tomorrow you'll be perfectly fine sticking me in a room full of them?" I couldn't bring myself to be angry with the teen's interruption. The logic sounded twisted even in my own head. I was aware of this before the boy brought it up, but he just wasn't ready. I couldn't let him remain here. He hadn't been mentally prepared for this encounter. I did not want to risk taking any steps backwards with the boy unless I was certain of the ramifications. It was too dangerous.

"Yes. But tomorrow-"

"Vlad tomorrow I'll be just as protected as I am today. You said that you ordered everyone not to touch me right? So by your own means I should be fine. I'm staying Vlad, I can handle this. Think of it as practice." I pinched the bridge of my nose once again. What was so frustrating was the fact that there was no reason I could make Daniel go to the training room short of 'because I said so'. I was not so juvenile that I would stoop so low as using that as a reason for anything. And the way the teen had presented it, it would be foolish not to let him have this opportunity. I would be there the entire time to make sure that nothing happened. That still did not mean that I wanted him there. I sighed and let my arm fall back to my side as I decided the next strategy I would be using to win this argument. Either Daniel was going to tell me what his intents and purposes were for staying or he was going to leave. He needed to decide which of the two would be his course of action quickly.

"Daniel why is it that you would even desire to be present for this endeavor? Nothing exciting or worth witnessing is going to take place. This is purely a mundane annual visit that will take less than five minutes. Really I believe it would cause us all less trouble if you would occupy yourself elsewhere." I watched Daniel with slight curiosity. He shifted and brought one of his hands up to rub the back of his neck in his iconic 'I'm nervous and uncomfortable' gesture. We would have to work on fixing that. Such a blatant signal could be used against him if he continued to display his emotions so openly. Now however, was not the time. Instead I payed attention to what he muttered under his breath.

" I dunno I guess I just wanted to be there. See what you were gonna do to the Ball room and stuff." My eyebrows lowered skeptically at the boy's provided reason. So he _was _still under the impression that I was scheming? I suppose I should not have expected the boy's suspicion of my actions to vanish simply because of my word, but he needed to know and understand that I was not lying about what I had said.

"Daniel I can assure you that I have no plans to harm or take advantage of anyone short of giving them a hardy scare." When Daniel would still not meet my gaze I halted in vindicating my own purposes and waited for what he would have to say. Based on Daniel's body language I was still missing something. It was no use trying to solve a puzzle you didn't have all the pieces to. Without meeting my gaze Daniel muttered once again.

"I know. That wasn't why I wanted to stay." Now, supremely confused, I just stared at the boy, waiting for him to explain himself. I could not for the remaining life of me, figure why the boy would want to watch what I was doing if it was not for his usual heroic reasons. Daniel finally grew uncomfortable with my stare and broke down.

"Okay gezze stop looking at me like that alright? It's not that I think you're going to do something evil or illegal or anything, even though you're giving me enough reason to think so. I guess I just feel like you went into the Ghost Zone with me and were okay with all of my friends, and this is my chance to return some of the favor. I want to show you that I can keep up my end of the deal too," The boy nervously shifted again before he added more to his reply, "And I kind of want to make sure that you don't do anything to the Ball room that might backfire on me tomorrow." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. The boy did not need to prove to me he would be loyal to his end of the bargin. He was far too noble to go back on his word. Frankly it wasn't even Daniel acting up I was most worried about, now that he had revealed his intention to me. The only reason Daniel would become violent was if he were provoked in some way. The only reason I might be concerned was that things may escalate to the point of violence because the Fright Knight held very little respect for Daniel or anyone he saw as below himself.

Though I was not necessarily concerned with Daniel being able to manage himself if things got out of hand either. What I was worried about was reinforcing his perception that he and ghosts could not exist in the same space peacefully. If a fight did break out, for whatever reason, then that would be one more example that Daniel could use to justify his insane notions.

I sighed once again and let my hand drop. I caught Daniel shifting uncertainly around out of the corner of my eye. I suppose I would be present the entire time to monitor the situation, just as I had been with the boy in the Ghost Zone. The difference here was that I would have the advantage of being in my own mansion, and I knew exactly the type of character that Daniel and I would be dealing with. In retrospect I suppose if Daniel stayed here with me it would not be more dangerous than our previous trip to visit the boy's allies. My attention was brought to Daniel again when a ring of light appeared around his waist as he spoke.

"Here look, I'll even-"

"Stay in your ghost form." The rings of light instantly halted before they moved back together and disappeared. Daniel stared at me curiously, obviously wondering why I had instructed him not to transform. It would be idiotic to have the boy in his weaker form if something did transpire. As much as I wished it weren't so, Daniel could use this situation to better himself; and I wasn't going to be the one to stop him from doing so. The brutal truth was that Daniel needed as many benign interactions with ghosts as he could get. This was not any more dangerous than anything I hadn't already previously agreed to. I sighed and started moving towards the portal to open it.

"I want myself between you and the Fright Knight at all times." I watched out of the corner of my eye as Daniel's mouth hung slightly open. The smirk of triumph I had suspected would appear, him having gotten his way once again, was absent. He instead took the gravity of the situation seriously and zipped silently and quickly to occupy the space behind my right shoulder. I was privately grateful that the teen saw fit to conduct himself without his usual pretentious demeanor. The Fright Knight did not take kindly to those sorts of behaviors and I wanted as little conflict as possible. As I punched in various codes to the lock I had installed on the portal Daniel muttered something I had not expected.

"Thanks. I need this kind of stuff to get better you know. I promise you won't regret this." I halted in my typing for just a fraction of a second before I resumed.

"You wouldn't be here if I thought I would dear boy." Before Daniel could reply the doors in front of us slowly opened with a small hiss. I backed up a number of steps to allow space for the Fright Knight to appear. Daniel took my lead and stepped back also. Shortly after a rather imposing figure dressed in black plated armor stepped through, spouting apologies.

"My Liege I am sorry if…" The Fright Knight trailed off and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, as if preparing to unsheathe it, when he spotted who stood behind me. I did not have to look to know that the small action had also put Daniel on his guard. Immediately I drew both of their attention away from each other and onto me. If this _was_ going to be a good opportunity for Daniel, I would not have it ruined by the Fright Knight's impulses. I kept my voice cold and sharp instead of soothing and manipulative as I usually did. I needed to let the Fright Knight know that this was not a matter to be taken lightly.

"Fright Knight, surely you are aware that I have taken the boy in. His presence should be no surprise. He is here to observe our doings to be better prepared for tomorrow evening. You so much as speak to him the wrong way and I will take appropriate action. You will treat him as you would me do you understand?" The Fright Knight blinked quickly before he gave a hasty nod of his head.

"Of course my liege. You have no need to question my loyalty. " I did not make any indication that I had heard him or that I received his reassurance. As far as I was concerned there was nothing that he had reassured me about. I kept my cold business persona about me as spoke. I was not oblivious to the hateful looks the Fright Knight was attempting to send over my shoulder at the young man behind me.

"Let us proceed then." I turned briskly on my heel away from the Fright Knight to face Daniel. He gave me curious looks between glancing to the Fright Knight in his anxiety. I softened my face slightly as I explained to Daniel where and what we would be doing. As we started moving towards the stair case I placed my hand on the boy's shoulder, shepherding him to walk along my right side while I also maneuvered to keep the Fright Knight behind me on my left.

"Now Daniel you are already aware of the purpose of my Halloween Ball. I believe you are also aware of the particular affect that the Fight Knight's sword has on objects within a haunted house?" The boy glanced to me before looking back to the Fright Knight to see his reaction to my comment. Once again, I did not have to turn around to know that the Fright Knight had been displeased with the mention of this particular adventure with Daniel. I could not repress a smirk when Daniel looked back to me, a slight rose tinge now on his cheeks. He responded timidly to my inquiry.

"Yeah, I have a general idea." I continued my explanation as we emerged into my study and the fireplace moved to accommodate our passing.

"Then the reason I obtain the Fright Knight's services this time of year should not come as a surprise to you." I was about to launch into an explanation myself of the extent of the Fright Knights powers. However I stopped myself when I glimpsed the Fright Knight sending more hateful glares to Daniel over my shoulder. Daniel was not oblivious to this fact and it showed. He walked as if at any minute he would need to doge or dive into a corner. His eyes continuously darted from me to the Fright Knight behind us. It was evident that Daniel was using all of his will power not to get into a more obvious stance and prepare to fight the specter. And while it was evident that Daniel was making an effort to be cordial, the Fright Knight was making no such attempts. I resisted growling out right at the ghost to show due respect. Instead, I opted for a more subtle way to convey to the Fright Knight that he was not to act as an enemy to Daniel in my household. The Fright Knight could tell Daniel himself about his abilities.

"You know, really I am in no position to inform the boy of your abilities. Fright Knight, I believe it would only be right for _you_ to tell Daniel the specifics of your talents. You are the person who knows yourself best, hm?" I only stopped and turned when the Knight halted in his procession. He glared at Daniel yet again and addressed me as if the boy were below his attention. Obviously my jibe to get him to behave himself had sailed completely over his head. I raised my eyebrows at his aghast tone.

"Plasmius surely _he _has no need for such knowledge of my abilities. You cannot seriously suggest that I would willingly reveal anything strategically relevant to an _adversary_. He most certainly doesn't need to be present for what task you would have me perform either. I will respect your alliance with the whelp but that does not make him anything less than an enemy in my eyes." Completely aware that the Fright Knight's resentment had caused Daniel to shift to a more battle ready position beside me once again; I responded with my own icy glare. I had expected resistance from the Knight, yes. However I had not suspected that he would outright refuse to do as I asked; especially not so transparently. Neither had it escaped my attention that he had seen fit to refer to me by my ghost alias; as if to remind me that he only served under me by choice.

"it may be worthy to note that Daniel and I have come under an agreement to cease confrontations with adversaries that are also the others allies. Further I am dismayed that you would be so openly hostile to a young man I have under my ward and care; especially after I specifically ordered you to treat him with the same respect you would show myself. Such blatant antagonism when he has done nothing to anger you presently could be interpreted as an insult to me. You have done a very thorough job of offending Daniel and myself Fright Knight. Would you wish to reconsider your actions before I have you removed from my manor?" The Fright Knight merely gazed with reserved judgment from behind his helmet. I could hear Daniel shift idly behind be as the Fright Knight refused to relent.

"I do not intend any insult to you Plasmius, however you might consider your disrespect of my standing. Clearly you are under the impression that I am serving you blindly, this is not the case. I do have conditions, and one of those is that I will not be forced to reveal my strengths and weaknesses to a known enemy." I growled slightly as the Fright Knight still showed no signs of yielding to my original request. As far as I was concerned this had gone on far enough. It was clear that the Fright Knight should not be allowed to remain in my castle. This was not going to turn into a productive scenario any time soon and I intended to diffuse it before it could turn into an explosive one. I knew I shouldn't have allowed the boy to tag along. Absolutely nothing good or helpful was coming of this.

I was about to take a step forward to 'dismiss' the arrogant Knight when Daniel stepped directly between The Fright Knight and I. Any thoughts of anger I had held vanished as I watched the Fright Knight tense with the boy's advance; anger being replaced with pangs of fear. Daniel set himself in a battle ready stance before me as the Fright Knight did the same placing his hand on his sword. I did not know why in the blazes Daniel saw the need to place himself directly in the middle of this tense situation, but I certainly wasn't going to let him remain there.

"Dan-"

"I'm sorry I stole your sword that one time." I had stepped so that I could maneuver Daniel out of the way quickly and efficiently; however I hesitated when I heard what had come out of the teen's mouth. I looked to the Fright Knight to find him in a great deal of shock at what Daniel had just said; frozen in his suit of armor. I halted my efforts to move Daniel form his position when he glanced to me, pleading uncertainly with his eyes. It was then, when I saw Daniel silently ask me to stand down, that I realized in my haste to attain respect for the boy I had escalated the situation. I resisted a heavy sigh at my own insolence; with it I had managed to create a situation I had hoped to avoid. When I made no moves to stop him, Daniel looked uncertainly back to the Fright Knight to continue. "I-I know that I was wrong and I'm sorry. That was probably one of the few times that I actually provoked a ghost attack. As you probably already know, I can't scare anyone for the life, or after-life, of me. The reason I stole your sword in the first place was because I had to make a haunted house room and if my room wasn't scarier than this other guys I was going to have detention for a week and have to eat his underwear." Daniel shuddered at something before he continued. "So yeah, and I had to put you back in your pumpkin because I couldn't exactly just _let _you create a 'reign of terror' or whatever. If someone threatens to take over the world, I have to stop them, that's just how the process works. If you wouldn't have tried to take over the world or hurt anyone, I probably wouldn't have put you back in the pumpkin. I was honestly going to return the sword as soon as I was done using it. I had no intention of keeping it." During Daniel's unexpected apology the Fright Knight remained unresponsive. He had let his hand fall from the hilt of his sword and relaxed slightly out of his battle ready posture.

Daniel, still as tense as when this had started, glanced back to me for a moment seemingly looking for the encouragement to continue. Torn between wanting the teen to move out of the danger he was putting himself in, and wanting him to continue to gain experience in successfully diffusing a situation without violent repercussions; I could only bring myself to nod ever so slightly. Daniel sighed heavily in response to my uncertain signal before turning once again to face the Fright Knight.

"I've had enough enemies to know that it's possible to fight with someone and still show an amount of respect for them. I'm not asking to be friends or even allies, but I don't want you to fight with Plasmius because of me. He's my ally now too. A lot has happened since I got to Vlad's and if you aren't threatening to take over the world or cause humans physical harm, I'm not going to do anything to you. And as long as that stays true I would be willing to come to a truce. If only so we can get whatever we're going to do, done." Now Daniel slowly extended his right hand out for a handshake keeping his other in plain sight as well; decreasing the threat that he presented.

Daniel had certainly pulled an unexpected move. Though I had been uncertain of the level of foresight that Daniel's actions had possessed; I would be a liar if I said I was not impressed, if not slightly proud of the boy's strategic decision to step in. It was apparent that _not attacking _ was taking Daniel a great deal of conscious effort. For the boy to have resisted those impulses and then try to make amends with an uncooperative enemy was a testament to his self control. Yes I would be a liar if I said I wasn't at least pleased with the effort the teen was obviously making to fight his anxiety.

Though my own features, as usual, remained stoic and impassive despite my inner musings the same could not be said for the Fright Knight. His eyebrows had risen to a point where they were no longer visible beneath his helmet and his eyes held an air complete of surprise. The Fright Knight glanced back to me, clearly not believing what he was hearing. He merely stood there for a long moment staring at Daniel's outstretched hand. _I _was on the verge of interrupting the Knight's irritating silence when Daniel beat me too it. Daniel sighed heavily as he let his hand drop to his side.

"Look it took like thirty seconds of me being here to make you guys want to fight each other. I don't want to make people fight each other. Really I'm not going to do anything, or use anything against you unless I need to protect someone else. When have you ever heard of me operating like Vlad? Just because I live here now doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a mini version of him and stab my enemies in the back at every available opportunity. If you're waiting for me to apologize for the whole Pariah incident; I'm not going to. You tried to take over my town. There is nothing I have to apologize for. And for what it's worth, under the rule of her majesty Queen Dorthia I am officially a Duke. I can't think of anything else to say that would make you get over this and just let bygones be bygones so if you still want to be my enemy after this I am going to go to the training room. Truce?" I watched as Daniel now tentively offered his hand once more. I could not stop my own eyebrows from skyrocketing to my hair line when an impressed smirk slid onto the Fright Knight's own face. Daniel instinctually flinched, but only slightly, as the Fright Knight moved his hand forward to shake Daniel's.

"Truce. I also accept your apology." Their hands moved up and down once in finality before they broke apart. Daniel stared at the Fright Knight for a small moment in disbelief before he broke out into a wide grin. His jumpy behavior had not lessened in the slightest with this new development; however the anticipation that had hung in the air before, all but vanished. I watched with interest as Daniel exhaled loudly and looked between me and the Fright Knight.

"Awesome. That wasn't so bad. Okay, so let's go then." Daniel fell in on my right side once more and looked to me to lead the way. Forcing myself not to linger on my astonishment; I passively continued our trek to the Ball room. The Fright Knight once again occupied the space to my left as we moved down the hallway. I could not help a proud smirk as I processed what had just happened. The sense of delight that filled my chest seemed to want to burst through my lungs. I would never cease to be amazed by the young man next to me.

There was an awkward lull in conversation as we walked down the halls. I however, could not bring myself to fill it as I usually would. Selfishly, I wanted to continue to watch how Daniel would handle himself in this situation. I could not shake the notion that if I spoke now it would deter Daniel from speaking up on his own further, and I did not want him taking a back seat in this scenario. Not after that recent little display and certainly not after he had effectively eliminated the conflict that was making me hesitate to let him have free reign in the first place. For once I did not wish to actively be in command of this situation. Ultimately I was still in control of everything, as I was pulling all of the strings. However I would not be the figurehead of this encounter. I was going to be a spectator watching the game, and Daniel was going to be the main player this time. Finally the Fright Knight had had enough of the silence that occupied the hallway.

"Phantom, you truly are a Duke of the Dragon Queen's realm?" Myself and The Fright Knight both looked to Daniel for his response. I slowed my pace to allow the Fright Knight and Daniel easier conversation. Daniel shrugged indifferently before he replied.

"It's not a secret or anything. I just don't like to advertise the fact. About a year and a half ago I helped Dora overthrow her brother, who really sucked as a King. For that she made me a knight. Since then whenever the Kingdom has had a crisis or whatever I've helped in a big enough way that Dora thought it was a good idea to promote me up a rank or whatever. Really I don't understand why she even bothers. She knows I get uncomfortable when I get so much formal recognition." Daniel rolled his eyes to himself in annoyance. The Fright Knight looked to me at the end of Daniel's explanation as if for confirmation that Daniel was telling the truth. I just feigned ignorance causing the Fright Knight to shift his attention back to Daniel.

"You truly are a strange character Phantom." Daniel slumped his head sheepishly and blushed.

"Yeah, well it's not like I asked for any of this attention. I _don't_ want attention. I just would like to be left alone most of the time." I shepherded the two towards the right when the hallway we had been walking down ended at an intersection with another. The Fright Knight scoffed lightly at Daniel's statement.

"Well you certainly do a rather extraordinary job of making sure that you remain the focus of every ghost who crosses your path. You cannot expect me to believe that while you deliberately draw copious amounts of attention to yourself that you do not want it. If you truly wanted to be left alone you would leave others alone." I was put on my toes as Daniel's eyebrows drew together in anger at the Fright Knights accusations. I could see Daniel once again fight furiously with the instinct to get into a battle stance. Hesitantly I allowed the conversation to continue a bit longer.

"It's not like I can just sit and watch while ghosts overrun my home. Would you just sit and watch if some stupid ghost decided that they were going to take over your domain? I only fight ghosts when they decide that they want to hurt people or cause destruction. I'll have you know that I let plenty of ghosts who aren't going to cause trouble in and out of the Ghost Zone without a fuss. Johnny 13 and Kitty will vouch for that, and so will Amorpho." I could not help a smirk at the Fright Knights confused state. Daniel's choice of words had undoubtedly raised a few questions in the warriors head. Daniel had made sure that it was almost imposible for a ghost to tell whether he had claimed Amity for himself or not. It was the main reason that the area _atracked_ so many ghosts. The Fright Knight had been of the opinion that Daniel had not claimed Amity. So when Daniel made the comparison of Amity to the knights own lair and refered to the town as _his _home; the knight had connected the dots. He would undoubtedly ask questions. Of course I was not disappointed.

"So you _have_ declared ownership over Amity then?" At the question Daniel's eyebrows relaxed and he took a moment to regain his bearings.

"No I don't _own_ anything. It's not like I can say I own a whole city when it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to lots of people. I just don't want anybody to get hurt." The Fright Knight looked to me with complete and utter confusion. The Fright Knight was something of an expert on claiming territory for himself or for others and he could not seem to follow the boys logic. I only sported an amused smirk at the Knight's expense when he looked directly to me. He shook his head at my silent response to his inquiry. From there he seemed to drop the matter as the boy's thought process pertaining to territory and how one exerted authority over it was not his business to decipher or understand.

It was then that we finally came upon the entrance to the Ball room. The Ball room itself was only a short ways from the main door. You understand I did not want people roaming my mansion on their way to their destination. There was a short distance of open hallway that connected the stone arch, which was the official entrance to the ball room, to the hallway we were currently in. The space acted as a sort of brezze way, and helped in easing any number of guests into the grandeur of the actual ballroom.

A small grin tugged at my lips as I observed Daniel taking in the scene. He had been to my ball room before, at the college reunion. However when I had my mansion rebuilt I had made a few changes. You could say that the decore was much darker. Not in the sense that there was any less light, but that there was a sense of foreboding that occupied the room.

The walls were made of stone much like that of an actual castle. The wrought iron window frames I had custom welded twisted and bended at any number of sharp angles. As we proceeded through the short length of hallway our footsteps echoed off of the large grey stone slabs that made up the floor. Once more reminiscent of an actual medevail castle. There was no grout between any of the large stones that made up the walls and floor. I had had stone masons come in and manually carve each brick and tile to fit perfectly together. I had forgone electricity for this particular occasion and in place of the usually much less intimidating electric sconces that lined that walls were innumerable torches. I could not have feasibly lit a room of this size with regular fire so I had lit the torches myself with ectoenergy. It burned much brighter and had an eerier glow than any regular flame.

Though we only spent a brief moment in the small passageway to the ballroom. It wasn't long before we had passed through the stone arch that was the door way to the ball room and into the room itself.

In lue of Daniel being here I had opted out of hiring ghosts to put up decorations this year and used humans instead. They were much slower, however they had been much more meticulous about their work. I had to say I was exceptionally pleased with the results.

The ball room's cathedral ceiling was in all, 40 feet above the floor. The intricate crystal chandelier that hung from the middle of the ceiling was quite beautiful on a regular basis, however for tomorrow it had been meticulously coated in grey dust before I had ordered that actual spiders be brought in to string webs over it. Once again in place of usual electric light I had candles resting in place of light bulbs. I had lit these too with my own energy, and with a bit of concentration I had been able to change the flames color to a deep red; making the crystals shine as if they were blood rubies. Though the chaniler was not the only element of the room I had tailored for tomorrow night.

The tall windows that stretched the height of the room had been fitted with custom wrought iorn bars. They twisted and crept their way towards the ceiling in less than safe ways. I had the windows behind them also coated in a layer of fine dust before I had specified that real spiders be used again to place webs near the tops of the windows. The stage along the back wall which usually sported a set of heavy velvet royal blue curtains had been outfitted with a set of classic antique red ones. The walls themselves were also constructed of large grey stones that fit perfectly together, like in the entryway. To add a certain effect I had had people with butane torches come in and burn intricate smoke patterns on the walls. It looked as if there had been a large fire in the room and no one had bothered to scrub off the walls afterward. The tables on the far right of the room had been modified as well for the occasion. Meticulaouly constructed black lace had been drapped over the usually spotless white table clothes. Intricately crafted candelabrales occupied ever table, these would be lit with regular flame when the party started. Four sturdy dark wood chairs surrounded each table, accented with the odd iron rivet holding it together, as if the chairs had also come straight from the middle ages. Then there were the extra accents I had placed around the room. Two larger than life suits of armour, at least twelve feet tall, stood guarding the exit to the ball room on either side of the stone arch. They stood in a resting position with their swords planted between their feet and their hands resting on the hilts. As we spoke artisens were carving ten pumpkins to be ready for tomarow. I had them grown specifically for this event to meet my specifications. They would be the height of small children and weigh at least five hundred pounds. The craftsmen would carve horrifying faces into them and the lit pumpkins would be placed around the perimeter of the room and at the corners of the stage. Cofins flanked either end of the table that would hold punch and ordurves. They were also painstakingly constructed and were just a small amount taller than would seem necessary for the average person. Due to the chandelier the entire room and its contense was bathed in a dangerous, flickering, blood red glow that cast ominous shadows. Yes even with out the Fright Knight I had done quite the number on the room. Years of trial and error made the room more and more efficient at what it did every year.

I was not at all surprised by the Fright Knights reaction to all of this. As usual he came into the room and admired it with a sort of respect. I was torn between a smirk and a frown at Daniel's reaction however. He had noticeably shivered upon entrance to the room and his eyes never rested for more than two seconds on any object or area as if scaning it for threats. I had after all, had the room decorated to trigger fear and apprehension. The Fright Knight looked confidantly to me as he spoke.

"As usual my liege you have demonstrated that you hardly need my help in this arena." I was much too concerned with Daniel's behavior to respond an appropriately smug tone at the complement.

"Yes, I've had more than enough practice as you are well aware." I finally caught Daniel's attention when I spoke. I tried to communicate through my gaze that he had no need to be so testy. It was simply decoration after all. Under my concerned gaze Daniel seemed to nod ever so slightly and take slow breaths to calm himself down. He nervously smiled at me almost in an apology before he turned back to the Fright Knight to see what he was doing.

Only to lose his composure completely.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with that!" Daniel abrubtly dropped any and all atemtps he had been making at holding himself back and he sunk completely into a battle stance. His hands exploded with green energy and much to my surprise he did not hesitate to leap in front of me in a protective gesture.

While I had been reassuring the boy The Fright Knight had taken it upon himself to move to the center of the room and get to business. He had unsheathed his sword and was holding it above his head as if he were about to plunge into an attack when Daniel had looked back at him. The Fright Knight froze at Daniel's sudden explosion and looked at the boy curiously; clearly not understanding that Daniel had misinterpreted his benign actions. Before Daniel could jump to any more conclusions I took control of the situation.

"Daniel relax." I made sure to speak quietly and calmly before I placed a gentle hand on the boys shoulder to move him from his position in front of me. He refused to budge however. His years of fighting ghosts had taught him how to stand with his weight centered and low, making him a near impossible object to sway without a great amount of force. Instead he scoffed and settled further into his stance.

"Are you seeing this Vlad! He was about to literally stab you in the back and you want me to relax. I knew he wouldn't really agree to a truce with me. None of my enemies would. He was just waiting until my guard was down so he could finish me off for good. " Daniel did not take his eyes off of the Fright Knight while he spoke to me. In fact his body was so geared towards the Knight that it was as if he was talking to the ghost instead of me. I was now starting to become worried. The boy had inevitably "recognized" the signs of an impeding attack and had snapped back to his old process. I squezzed the boy's shoulder lightly and tried to maneuver myself between the Fright Knight and Daniel; to better talk with the boy and calm him down. Much to my surprise I was unsuccessful. Without even a hint that Daniel was paying attention or aware of my movements behind him he managed to fluidly maneuver himself to stay in front of me as soon as I started to move. I now became serious as it became aprent that Daniel would need more than a gentle chiding to stand down. I doubted Daniel would lower his defenses unless I used anything short of physical force, and I _refused_ to use force with the boy. I would have to use another avenue to diffuse the situation.

"Fright Knight sheath your sword." The Fright Knight had by this time let his sword fall from the raised position over his head and was holding it by his side. He had become wary of Daniel's obvious fighting stance and in response now held his sword in a way that it might be easily called into action. My demand to sheath his sword completely, leaving him defenseless, did nothing to ease the Knights frame of mind.

"Plasmius, your ward is about to go off on me for no reason and you would like me to _lower _my defeses?"

"He is only on his guard because you presented him with a threat. Now for the sake of sustaining civility put your sword away." I growled slightly at the Knights indignace. For Daniel's sake, he needed to comply with my demands _now. _ This was not the time to be arguing against my superiority. The Fright Knight however, seemed to think that this absoultuely was the time.

"I did no such-"

"Well to someone who _doesn't know_ exactly what you were about to do it bloody well looked like you were about to attack. How would you expect someone to react when they turn around and find a ghost knight with a glowing sword above their heads as if they had the intention of plunging into someones skull? You will _not_ be placing blame of this on Daniel he has done nothing wrong. You on the other hand, have decided that you know this mansion and it's inhabitants better than I do. Apprently you decided that it would be perfectly fine to act without my disgression if I was otherwise occupied. It is because of this situation that it is not okay. In your haste to exert your 'independent' status you conviently forgot to explain to Daniel what would be going on and thus created this gross misunderstanding in the first place. Now you will sheath your sword or so help me I will do it for you." I could not help but keep the biting tone out of my voice, though I had managed to keep it at a conversational volume as not to further highten Daniel's defenses. I allowed my red eyes to flare through to my human form and I fixed my most pirceing gaze on the Fright Knight; waiting for him to do what I asked. I would not toeralte anything less than complete obidence at this point without repercussions and anyone in the Ghost Zone with the smallest bit of sentience new better than to test me. As expected it was only a moment before the Fright Knight slowly put his sword back in the sheath that sat on his left hip.

When it became clear that the Fright Knight was indeed doing as I instructed Daniel started to shift his weight uncertainly; clearly confused about the Knights actions. Though everything else about the boy remained the same. His hands were still lit with balls of ecto energy ready to fire and his stance, though now slightly uncertain, was still a fighting one. Like a schoolyard squabble the Fright Knight found it prudent that Daniel's lack of reaction to his action be pointed out to me.

"He is not backing down Plasmius! If I am injured because of your insane demands then I swear-"

"Would you let me handle this!" At my outburst Daniel flinched away from my position behind him ever so slightly. The boy's action caused me to break from my annoyance with the Fright Knight. I felt my eyelids become heavy and tension that had been building in my chest unwind as I was forced to realize the situation I was creating for Daniel once again. I resisted a heavy sigh at my own actions. I prided myself in my calm and patience, and yet I could not seem to hold my temper in this particular situation. If I myself wasn't calm how could I ask Daniel to achieve anything along those lines? I let my shoulders roll forward ever so slightly out of their authoritative posture as I tried once again to make Daniel put down his guard.

"Daniel, the Fright Knight has put his sword away. You now need to call of the blasts in your hands. You just created a truce with the Fright Knight. Do you truly wish it to be for nothing?" Daniel shifted uncertainly once again. Now however he allowed himself to turn his head to look at me.

"But he-"

"Daniel he was not going to stab you. That was not why he had taken his sword out. It so happens that his sword is the key to getting this room properly haunted. Do you see how the Fright Knight has positioned himself in the exact center of the room?" I gestured patiently for Daniel to observe where The Fright Knight was stading. He glanced back and forth between me and the Fright Knight quickly. Having distracted him enough, the blasts that had accumulated around Daniel's clenched fists had unwillingly dissipated and he had now stood up more fully. Without waiting fro Daniel to confirm what he saw I continued. "The way the sword works it needs to be plunged into the center of the space it is going to affect. The sword once it is erected in the center of the room draws an amount of energy from the Ghost Zone that can regulated by the Fright Knight. That energy will dissipate through out the room and imbed itself in its surroundings giving it a ghostly element that, if a human does not recognize, will be certainly unnerving but completely harmless. The only reason the Fright Knight had held his sowrd in such a manner is because the crease between the two stones that mark the center of the room is rather tight and it takes a great deal of force to get the sword wedged properly. Do you understand now how you over reacted?" I watched as Daniel looked to the Fright Knight who was standing rather annoyed in the center of the room. He scanned the area that the Fright Knight occupied and found the two slightly lose stones that marked the center of the room I had been talking about. Daniel now seemed to force himself to stand up fully. He flexed and unflexed his fingers, which until now had been coiled into tight fists. Sheepishly he avoided looking at me or the Fright Knight and preferred his gaze be kept to the ground.

"I'm sorry." I raised my eyebrows skeptically at Daniel as he muttered to the ground in shame.

"I don't think it is me who would require an apology. I believe it was the Fright Knight whom you had forged an alliance with and then proceeded to undermine." The teen visibly flinched at my accusation. I myself felt a pang of guilt at seeing I had caused the boy distress with my accusations. I suppose I had been a tad harsh with my wording. Without picking his head back up Daniel reached up to rub the back of his neck and tilted his head slightly to face the Fright Knight as if he were attempting to hide himself. A little louder now so that the Fright Knight could hear he repeated his apology.

"I'm sorry." The Fright Knight by this point was utterly confused by what was happening before him. As I effectively got Daniel to put his guard down, more and more astonishment had appeared on his face before his look became blank all together. In all of the Fright Knight's experience and knowledge of mine and Daniel's relationship, this was surely something he never expected to see. It was one thing to hear that I had taken Daniel under my wing and it was another to witness it. The Fright Knight managed to nod his head shortly at Daniel's apology before he was back to studying me and Daniel as if we were from a different planet. I chose to ignore him in favor of the awkward teen who was now looking to me to take the lead. I sent Daniel a warm reassuring smile as I subtly maneuvered in front of him once more; allowing him to slink into the shadows and virtually disappear as he wished to.

"Fright Knight, I believe now you will be able to proceed without mishaps?" As I addressed the Fright Knight he jumped back to reality. He seemed to take a moment to remember what it was he was here for in the first place. Finally he looked uncertainly to the teen who had hid himself behind me before cautiously unsheathing his sword once more. The Fright Knight looked to me when he had his sword completely unsheathed. I merely nodded for him to continue. Now with less hesitation the Fright Knight lifted his sword above his head and thrust it down into the crevase that marked the center of the room. I did not miss the sharp intake of breath that the Fright Knights actions elicited from Daniel. My lips pursed together into a firm line as I ever so subtly shifted my weight to be more directly between the Fright Knight and Daniel, just in case. I never should have allowed Daniel to override my initial descision regarding him coming along.

Regardless I could not change the fact that Daniel was here now and I was going to make the best of it. I tilted my head slightly to see Daniel who was slouching behind me, obviously trying very hard not to do something rash. I calmly talked to the edgy teen behind me as the sword suddenly started to pulse with light ominously before us.

"Pay close attention Daniel. The energy that the Fright Knight is letting through to this room is only a small amount. You might only notice the difference if you are carefully looking for it. What changes do you see?" My ploy to distract the teen from his more impulsive thoughts worked and Daniel crept out from behind my shadow to get a better look at the room, though he still remained close to me. I watched the teen study the room for a moment before he reported to me the subtle changes he had noticed.

"You can't see the ceiling anymore." He glaced fleetingly to the cathedral ceilings above us. Indeed he was correct even with the chandelier in such close proximity to the arched stone structure, light did not seem to reach it; giving the appearance that the ceiling did not exist and in it's place was a black abys that extended infinitely upward. I nodded slightly to the teen as I encouraged him to continue.

"I suppose not, what else do you see?" Daniel only briefly looked this time before he looked back to me to report what he had found. As I had suspected, giving the teens mind something else to focus on was helping a great deal in keeping him subdued.

"The scortch marks on the walls are moving?" Daniel leaned just a small bit towards the wall he had indicated, still unsure if what he was seeing was really there. For only moments at a time, the patterns I had had scortched onto the walls seemed to twist and flick as if a fire were burning that would make them do so. Of course there was no such thing. I nodded again to confirm his suspicions.

"Well spoted Daniel. It is one of the more minuet effects." I did not need to prompt the teen this time as he continued to point things out to me.

"The cobwebs, on the chandelier and on the windows are moving like there's wind in the room, but there isn't any. And theres just a tiny bit of fog that is coming from behind the curtains on the stage for no apparent reason. Plus I think that suit of armor just moved." I nodded as the boy listed things that he saw were different from before. In the corner of my vision I was aware of the Fright Knight removing his sword from the floor and had replaced it back into it's sheath. I resisted a sigh of relif as it was clear that this entire ordeal was about to be over. My full attention was brought back to Daniel when he stopped recounting details of the room to me. I decided now was as good a time as any to dismiss the Ghostly Knight.

"Fright Knight thank you for your services. I believe that is all we will be requiring from you this evening. If you would please take your leave." The Fright Knight snaped his gaze to me. He was obviously still in a great deal of shock and was having trouble coming to grips with what he'd just witnessed. Blinking numerous times he finally nodded and started to walk towards the stone arch. I resisted an eyeroll at the fact that the ghost had seemingly forgotten he could phase through the floor to the lab. I looked after the dazed ghost for a moment and a thought occurred that needed to be addressed before the Fright Knight was out of ear shot.  
"Fright Knight." The ghostly warrior stopped and jerkingly turned to face me, now with a look of confusion. I did not hesitate to continue when I had his attention. "You are not to speak of what happened here to anyone am I clear?" The Knights look of confusion didn't lessen with my request. It seemed now he was even more perplexed with what was going on. He switched his gaze from myself to Daniel multiple times before he slowly nodded.

"Of course my liege. Not a word." I gave the Knight a curt nod of my own in dismissel once again. It was only a few moments before the light tinks of the Fright Knight's armour disappeared, and it was clear he had remembered he could indeed phase through the floor.

I finally allowed myself a heavy sigh. My hand instantly went to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. Without waiting for Daniel I started to make my way out of the Ball room. What had I been thinking, that it would have been a good experience for the boy? I should have known better. How could I think that in a mere twenty four days he would be fit to coexist with ghosts as I did? The boy was nowhere near mentally stable enough to be dealing with ghosts in a social setting. I was going to have to call off the Ghosts I was inviting to the mansion tomorrow. I had not been too happy with the way Daniel had reacted to the Ball room in the first place either. I did not want the teen making himself unnecessarily anxious. It was clear now that he would be staying in his room for the duration of the Ball. Preferable I would call off the entire ordeal but I couldn't do that because it would look suspicious to all of my pathetic human business ascoiatets if it was called off now.

What sort of guardian was I, forcing these sorts of situations on the boy? I had to have been a complete dolt to have missed the fact that the teen wouldn't have been able to handle this. The teen hadn't seen a ghost outside of the Ghost Zone in weeks and I expected him to be able to conduct himself properly withithout a hitch. Daniel was not somecar or machine that could be easily repaired. He was a mere child that had severe mental instabilities, and I had been about to throw him into a situation that would have undoubtedly had disasterous results!

"Vlad I-I'm sorry about what happened. I know that I shouldn't have-." I halted suddenly in my steps to look at the boy who had been walking rather hurriedly behind me to keep up with my languid strides. My sudden lack of forward movement caused Daniel to stumble as he walked past me a few steps. He gathered himself enough to stand nervously before me. He had also morphed back to his human half since the Fright Knights departure a few moments ago.

"Daniel none of that was your fault."

DELETED SCENE #7

I suppose I had been too focused on achieving my other fantasies back then. Really I hadn't been focused on money at all. No, I had been focused on Maddie. An emotion of loss and resentment swelled within me as my train of thought switched tracks.

What had I been chasing for twenty years? I thought I had been chasing an intelligent beautiful woman. A woman who would understand what I was and had been going through. A woman who, once she understood exactly what she meant to me and the lengths I would go for her, would give me her unwavering loyalty.

Well I had been wrong.

I had been terribly and inexplicably wrong. Maddiline would not understand. She was intelligent, but not in the way I had fooled myself into believing. No, underneath the perfect math and flawless theories, she was just as thick if not more so than the fat oaf she had ended up marrying. She is blind to what is actually around her. She lives in that perfect world, where good is very clearly separated from evil. Where ghosts can be nothing but mistakes; unfortunate phenomenon that plague the living. In her world, families always love each other, and no matter what happens to them they will always have one another. In her world, nothing can ever go too terribly wrong.

Maddaline could never let anything get in the way of her delusion of the perfect family, or skew the line between what was right and wrong. If something existed that could, she would simply shove it aside and ignore it. Something like that could never exist in her world for if it did, that would mean that her entire way of living was completely artificial. Something like a half ghost, let alone a half ghost son, could never be good or acceptable because it went against everything she believed to be true.

What I had seen the Tuesday night I went back to Fenton Works was all I needed to witness to know that I had been wrong about Maddiline. She never could or would, love and accept a half ghost. Not even if that half ghost was a fault of their own; not even if that half ghost was their own flesh and blood. Not even if that half ghost was Daniel.

I let my head fall to my hands as I thought of the younger halfa and what those two imbeciles had done to him. Not only had they rejected him when he needed them, they had created for him an image of himself that was false. Daniel's journal had revealed to me that more than just physical wounds had slipped by their notice. They had impressed upon him that he was, and could be nothing but, evil. They had made him feel utterly worthless, when nothing could be further from the truth. They had made sure that he would always fear their rejection. They had made the boy feel alone in a room full of family.

My eyes flared as I thought of the extent of what was ultimately done to the boy because of them. All of the injuries that went improperly treated because either one of them had failed to notice that Daniel was bleeding when he walked in the door. All of the food that went uneaten because Daniel was too 'busy' to take the time to consume it. All of the sleepless nights that Daniel had spent catching ghosts when it had been their responsibility to catch them in the first place. All of the paranoia that had been instilled in the boy because those two idiots were so inept at their chosen profession.

Daniel wouldn't have had the opportunity to place unnecessary responsibility on himself if either of them had been a millionth of what they claimed to be! Why is it that Daniel was able to single handedly protect that undeserving blip on a map while learning how to use his powers, maintain secrecy, and continue an education; and those two didn't seem to be able to handle the task when that was all they had to worry about? I would be thrilled if someone could explain to me, how exactly, after two years of watching their son come through the door exhausted, beaten, and bloody, they failed to take any action or do anything to stop it? Were they really so self absorbed that they would swallow whatever Daniel told them to maintain their picture perfect world?

There is no excuse! There is no explanation for what happened that would make their behavior over the last two years even the slightest bit forgivable. The countless scars on Daniels body, the endless thoughts of self doubt; all of them were Jack and Maddie's fault. Yet they were still allowed to walk free. Not a thing was being done to them for what they had committed against this innocent boy. Who was going to give them what they deserved? Nobody would know what they had done to Daniel, so they would get away with everything. They didn't deserve to walk, let alone breathe; not after what they had done to my Daniel.

I stood up and my fingers coiled into fists. I glared angrily out the window to the north where those two idiots were undoubtedly going about their pitiable lives. I had to stop myself, once again, from going back to Fenton Works and slowly twisting their limbs and heads off for what they had done. Daniel would never forgive me if I disposed of them. I could not do anything to them so long as I wanted Daniel to have trust and faith in me. It was only because of that one fact, that they were still alive. As much as I knew those two twits deserved to die, I could not be the one to administer death. The most I could do was make sure that they never saw Daniel again.

I sat back down in my black leather office chair and rubbed my eyes. It was my job to protect Daniel now; to make sure he was healthy as well as happy. I was so relieved Daniel had come to me. I don't think he even realized just how smart a decision it was to choose my mansion as a refuge. I could make so many things right for him. I had been administering him small doses of growth hormones every morning since the day after I gave him his 'check up'. I had managed to obtain a cream like remedy for all those horrendous scars with instructions to apply it every night before he went to bed. I made sure he cleared his plate at every meal. I was teaching him to form stronger shields and execute smarter defense strategies. Slowly I was teaching him about his ghost half and how it worked alongside his human one. I was working to prepare him a possible career path to follow and a secure future to invest in. I tried to use my ghost powers in front of him as much as I possibly could, even for the most ridiculous of things, to remind him that he is not alone in the world.

It seemed I was always checking to make sure the teen was alright, both physically and mentally. I was very well aware he used the gym and the training room before I got home. The difference between me and Daniel was that Daniel deemed he was out of energy when he was literally _out of energy_, so much so that he would revert to his human half. I had told him that exhausting himself so thoroughly was unhealthy. I had compared it to someone exercising so much that they passed out. He simply would not listen to what I said. He only replied that it felt wrong to have so much energy stored up. He had been exhausting himself in such a way for so long that he was uncomfortable when he wasn't exhausted. The boy really was very powerful, not quite as powerful as me yet, but he was getting there. I had determined as much definitively from the tests I had run on his blood samples. Regardless, Daniel always registered on any energy level scanner as two or three levels below where he was supposed to be, because he kept himself continually exhausted.

On the brighter side of things I do think I am getting somewhere, however slowly, with his parinoia about being attacked at random. I've told him over and over that he has nothing to fear here at my mansion. I am the only ghost that I know of that can completely suppress their ghost signature; that he would be warned of any other ghost before it could get to him because of his ghost sense. I've promised to train him in expanding his ghost sense's range and sensitivity. I've offered to install a ghost shield around his room, but he declined. He now barely reacts to me using my ghost powers in small ways, if he reacts at all. He still has trouble when I try to demonstrate things for him in the training room, but he has largely overcome his fears of ghost powers being used around the house.

Then there is the progress I _was_ making in getting him to believe he is just as good as everyone else. Daniel had only just been hinting at progress when that moron Jason Luire decided to give Daniel a scare. Now whatever momentum I might have had is completely gone. He's back to firmly believing he's nothing but a menace to those around him. I honestly wanted to scream at the teen sometimes; especially when he explained to me exactly _why_ he was a freak. There was seemingly nothing that I could tell him that would change his mind, even the tiniest bit. I was beginning to believe that this was a problem that I was not going to be able to fix. I was almost certain that it had something to do with this Clockwork and "him". Untill I found either of these characters I was going to be wandering around in the dark.


End file.
